Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf on Monday visited the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he held talks with President Bola Tinubu, fuelling fresh speculation over his possible move to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor, clad in a white babanriga and his trademark red Kwankwasiyya cap, was seen entering the President’s office around 4:13pm.
The visit comes against the backdrop of prolonged negotiations over Yusuf’s reported plan to dump the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) for the APC — a defection that has been delayed several times since January.
This is Yusuf’s first known meeting with Tinubu since the President returned from Abu Dhabi, where he attended the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
The talks stalled after APC leaders declined Yusuf’s request for a written guarantee of an automatic governorship ticket ahead of the 2027 elections. The governor is also said to be pushing for the right to nominate a minister for Kano State and to replace federal appointees in the state with his loyalists.
These demands have reportedly pitched him against key APC figures, including Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who is believed to be nursing his own governorship ambition.
Days earlier, Yusuf shared a video on Facebook showing him chairing Kano State’s first Executive Council meeting of 2026 at the governor’s lodge in Abuja.
His political mentor and NNPP leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has openly criticised the planned defection, branding it a betrayal and warning Yusuf of political consequences in 2027. Kwankwaso’s son, Mustapha, alongside other loyal cabinet members, has reportedly threatened to resign should the governor officially join the APC.
Meanwhile, Kano APC chieftain Alhassan Ado Doguwa claimed in a viral video that President Tinubu ordered the suspension of the party’s e-registration exercise in Kano pending Yusuf’s formal entry into the APC, insisting the President wants the governor to be the first to register.
Tinubu had earlier praised Yusuf in a January 5 birthday message, commending his governance style and development efforts.
“Governor Yusuf’s leadership experience, particularly his years as commissioner managing strategic portfolios in Kano State, may have prepared him for the kind of infrastructural changes now witnessed in the state,” Tinubu said.
“He has embarked on urban renewal programmes, building bridges and road networks, including five-kilometre roads in each local government in the state,” the President added.
Tinubu also lauded improvements in education, noting, “I also understood that his declaration of emergency in education has engendered a marked improvement in the performance of Kano students in NECO exams.”
Describing Kano as “the bastion of progressive politics in the North,” the President said Yusuf’s administration “re-echoes the commitment to grassroots development and ameliorating the plight of the Talakawas as championed by the late Mallam Aminu Kano.”
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