KEY POINTS
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Governor Abba Yusuf held a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja amid defection speculation.
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Talks are complicated by demands over 2027 elections and control of federal appointments in Kano.
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The possible move is straining ties with Rabiu Kwankwaso and reshaping Kano’s political landscape.
On Monday, Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf met privately with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. This led to a lot of speculation about his political future and the chance that he might leave the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
Yusuf got to Aso Rock in the afternoon. This was his first direct meeting with the president since he got back from a trip abroad. There have been more and more rumors that people are switching to the ruling All Progressives Congress, but there has been no official word on the matter.
Political sources say that talks between Yusuf and the APC have been going on for weeks and are getting more complicated because they can’t agree on how elections will be held in the future. Yusuf’s reported demand for guarantees before the 2027 governorship election is at the heart of the talks. So far, party leaders have not been willing to give him what he wants.
Defection talks expose internal fault lines
Negotiations are said to include more than just guarantees for the election. They also include control over federal appointments related to Kano State. People who know what is going on say that the governor wants to have more say in choosing federal officials and changing the state’s political structure under a new party platform.
Reportedly, these demands have made some important people in the APC, like Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who is widely seen as a strong candidate in Kano’s future political races, very uneasy.
Yusuf’s relationship with his long-time political ally, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has also been hurt by the possible defection. The leader of the NNPP has publicly spoken out against the move, calling it a betrayal of the movement that got Yusuf elected. Several cabinet members and political appointees who support Kwankwaso are said to be thinking about what to do if the governor officially leaves the party.
