KANO State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, on Monday met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, in a development that has reignited intense political speculation over his long-rumoured defection from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
News Point Nigeria gathered that the governor arrived at the President’s office at about 4:13 pm, dressed in his trademark flowing white babanriga and the iconic red Kwankwasiyya cap, a powerful symbol of his political allegiance to NNPP leader and former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso.
The visit marks Yusuf’s first known audience with President Tinubu since the President returned from Abu Dhabi, where he attended the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Although details of the closed-door meeting were not immediately disclosed, the timing has further fueled speculation that behind-the-scenes negotiations over Yusuf’s possible defection to the APC have reached a critical stage.
Sources familiar with the negotiations had earlier told The PUNCH and News Point Nigeria that Yusuf’s defection plans had stalled after the APC leadership reportedly refused to grant his demand for a written guarantee of an automatic gubernatorial ticket for the 2027 elections.
The governor is also said to be seeking the authority to nominate a minister to represent Kano State in the Federal Executive Council, as well as the power to replace Kano-based federal appointees with his own loyalists.
These demands, according to party insiders, have placed Yusuf on a collision course with influential APC figures in Kano, particularly Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who is believed to be nursing governorship ambitions ahead of 2027.
Governor Yusuf’s political godfather and NNPP national leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has publicly condemned the planned defection, describing it as an act of betrayal. He has warned that the governor could face serious political consequences if he abandons the NNPP.
Tensions within the Kano government have also escalated, with sources revealing that NNPP loyalists within Yusuf’s cabinet, including Hon. Mustapha Kwankwaso, son of the NNPP leader, have vowed to resign immediately should the governor formally join the APC.
Despite the speculation, Yusuf recently presided over the first State Executive Council meeting of 2026 at the Kano State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, where he was again seen wearing the red Kwankwasiyya cap and prominently displaying NNPP symbols—an act widely interpreted as a signal that no final decision has yet been made.
Meanwhile, a Kano-based APC chieftain and lawmaker, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, stirred further controversy after claiming in a viral video that President Tinubu had directed the suspension of the APC’s ongoing e-registration exercise in Kano State pending Yusuf’s formal entry into the party.
According to Doguwa, the President allegedly wants Yusuf to be the first to officially register as an APC member in Kano. However, the Presidency has not confirmed the claim as of press time.
Adding to the intrigue, President Tinubu had earlier lavished praise on Governor Yusuf in a birthday message released on January 5, marking the governor’s 63rd birthday.
In the statement, Tinubu commended Yusuf’s infrastructural drive and grassroots development efforts, noting his urban renewal initiatives, road construction projects, and improvements in the education sector.
“Governor Yusuf’s leadership experience… may have prepared him for the kind of infrastructural changes now witnessed in the state,” Tinubu said.
The President also praised Yusuf’s declaration of emergency in education, citing improved performance by Kano students in NECO examinations, and described Kano as “the bastion of progressive politics in the North.”