UPDATE: President Tinubu holds closed-door meeting with Governor Abba Yusuf in Abuja

By Kunle Sanni –

President Bola Tinubu is holding a meeting with the Governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, at the President’s office in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting comes amid heightened speculation over Yusuf’s planned defection from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a move that has been postponed multiple times since early January.

The governor’s visit to the Villa is his first known audience with President Tinubu since returning from Abu Dhabi, where the President attended the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

Yusuf is reportedly seeking the right to nominate a minister to represent Kano State in the Federal Executive Council, as well as the authority to replace Kano-based federal appointees with his loyalists.

According to reports, these demands have put him on a collision course with powerful figures within the party, including Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who is believed to have governorship ambitions for 2027.

Videos 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 on Friday.