JUST IN: Tinubu in closed-door meeting with Kano governor Abba Yusuf

President Bola Tinubu is currently meeting with the Kano State governor, Abba Yusuf at the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja.

The president met with the governor at about 4.13 pm on Monday, January 19, 2026.

Yusuf’s meeting with Tinubu comes amid rumours of his planned defection from the  New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Sources within the Villa said the governor arrived for the meeting dressed in his signature white babaringa and the popular red Kwankwasiyya cap, commonly known to be used by supporters of a former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Yusuf was said to have gone straight to the president’s office upon his arrival at the Presidential Villa.

He is also said to be seeking the president’s audience for the right to nominate a minister to represent his State at the Federal Executive Council

The heightened speculation over the governor’s possible defection from the NNPP has continued to rock the polity with many claiming his defection has been postponed multiple times.

His visit to the Villa also comes barely hours after the president returned from Abu Dhabi, where he attended the 2026 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.