Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf is currently at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for a meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
Dressed in his signature white babanriga and red Kwankwasiyya cap, the governor was seen making his way to the President’s office at 4:13 pm local time.
The meeting comes amid growing speculation over Yusuf’s planned defection from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a move postponed several times since early January.
This marks Yusuf’s first known audience with Tinubu since the President returned from Abu Dhabi, where he attended the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told The Telegraph that the defection stalled after the APC leadership refused to grant Yusuf a documented assurance of an automatic gubernatorial ticket for 2027.
The governor is also reportedly seeking the right to nominate a federal minister from Kano State and the authority to replace Kano-based federal appointees with loyalists, demands that have reportedly put him at odds with powerful APC figures, including Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, believed to have 2027 governorship ambitions.
A video posted on Yusuf’s official Facebook account earlier showed him presiding over the first State Executive Council meeting of 2026 at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja.
Yusuf’s political godfather, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has publicly condemned the planned defection as an act of betrayal, warning of consequences in 2027. Mustapha Kwankwaso, the NNPP national leader’s son, along with other loyal cabinet members, have reportedly vowed to resign if Yusuf formally joins the APC.
Meanwhile, APC chieftain Alhassan Ado Doguwa claimed in a viral video that President Tinubu directed the suspension of the APC’s e-registration exercise in Kano until Yusuf officially joins, insisting that the governor should be the first to register in the state.
In a birthday statement on January 5, Tinubu praised Yusuf’s leadership and development achievements in Kano, highlighting urban renewal projects, roads, bridges, and improvements in the education sector, including the impact of the emergency declaration in education on NECO exam performance.
Describing Kano as a “bastion of progressive politics in the North,” Tinubu said Yusuf’s administration reflects a commitment to grassroots development and improving the lives of ordinary citizens, echoing the legacy of the late Mallam Aminu Kano.
