A presidential aide, Alhaji Tunde Rahman, has revealed that the January 20, 2026 visit of the Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, was more than just discussing domestic issues affecting his state as he also pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on his godfather, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Eagle Online recalls that Governor Yusuf, after the meeting with Tinubu, told State House Correspondents his discussion was all centred on governance in Kano State.
He said he discussed issues affecting the Kano State with a call on the President for a working collaboration to resolve them.
But writing in a detailed column, Rahman, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties, said Yusuf made a last minute attempt to persuade Tinubu to once again speak with Kwankwaso to defect to the APC from the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
In the article, titled: “Yusuf’s defection, Kwankwaso and the 2027 Kano election,” the former newspaper editor wrote: “On January 20, 2026, when Governor Yusuf came to the Presidential Villa for a strategic meeting with President Tinubu, apart from addressing his defection concerns, one other issue that dominated discussions was his plea to the President to renew discussions and negotiations with Kwankwaso, persuade him to re-join APC and consider the possibility of working with him.”
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Rahman, however, noted that the demands of the former two-term Kano State governor to join the APC were unrealistic.
He said: “However, as correctly reported by a national newspaper over the weekend, Kwankwaso appears inflexible and unrealistic in his demands and conditions for enlisting in the governing party, allegedly seeking commitments for the 2031 presidential position – five years away!”
He said the battle line now seems clearly drawn between the godfather and godson as it relates to the 2027 elections in Kano State.
Providing insights into how the politics of 2027 will play out in the former Politics Editor across several newspaper titles in Nigeria posed questions to which he provided answers: “Can Kwankwaso recover from the shock of what he called treachery by a man he helped into office as governor? Can the former minister regain his stranglehold on Kano politics and his awesome control of the levers of power in the state? What does Governor Yusuf’s defection portend for his re-election?”
Read Rahman’s full article here: Yusuf’s defection, Kwankwaso and 2027 Kano poll, by Tunde Rahman: https://theeagleonline.com.ng/yusufs-defection-kwankwaso-and-2027-kano-poll-by-tunde-rahman/
