The defection of Governors Caleb Muftwang and Abba Yusuf to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lays the foundation for the party’s total control of Nigerian politics. But harmonising disparate leadership interests in the states would not come easy, LEO SOBECHI reports

Before their thirst for the sweet waters of defection, Governor Caleb Muftwang of Plateau State and Governor Abba Muhammad Yusuf of Kano State stood out as lonestars of their political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) in the North Central and North West geopolitical zones respectively.

However, barely 13 months to the 2027 general election, both governors have been responding to the Tinubu pull into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as well as escaping the oppressive shadows of their former political godfathers – former governors Jonah Jang (Plateau) and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano).

For the Plateau State chief executive, emerging governor from the hotly contested March 18, 2023 gubernatorial poll did not come easy. But the trickiest point in the governor’s journey to the Rayfield Government House, Jos, was the election petition battle between him and the current National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, who contested the gubernatorial election on the platform of APC.

Although the Plateau State Election Petition Tribunal upheld his election, the Court of Appeal nullified his victory on the grounds of improper nomination process, only for the Supreme Court to reinstate Muftwang as the winner of the election on January 12, 2024.

To some extent, Governor Abba Yusuf’s election travail travelled a similar troubled route as that of his Plateau State counterpart. But unlike Muftwang’s case, which received adverse ruling only at the Court of Appeal, the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal reversed Yusuf’s electoral triumph. But the Supreme Court, Nigeria’s court of last instance, set aside the decisions of the lower courts, especially the declaration of Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna of the APC as winner of the gubernatorial poll.

Escape To The Centre
Perhaps, based on their rash experience through the rigours of resolving their disputed elections, both governors resolved to join the growing number of their colleagues congregating on the federal ruling APC. To insiders, apart from connecting the centre of national politics, both governors Muftwang and Yusuf were cleverly hiding behind the leadership crisis in their various parties to escape the burden placed on their authority by their godfathers.

On December 19, 2025, the embattled PDP officially lost Muftwang and virtually the entire party structure and retinue of aides to the APC. But while the governor pulled off his defection amid push backs from entrenched interests in his welcoming party, his counterpart in Kano continued to seek ways for amicable divorce from his godfather and father-in-law, Kwankwaso.

The highpoint of the puzzling defection scheme was the series of allegations and rebuttals that dogged it. After weeks of speculations about the former NNPP governor’s migration to APC, words make the rounds that at last, his godfather and strong man of Kano politics, Kwankwaso, has granted him and his aides who desire to join him permission to cross over to the ruling party. But no sooner than the reports made it to the public domain that Kwankwaso’s Special Assistant on Media, Saifullahi Hassan, released a statement denying that any such permission was ever granted.

Apart from refuting the permission story, which made the rounds on social media and online sites, Hassan explained that having been elected on the platform of the NNPP, the ideology of the Kwankwasiyya Movement forbids jumping from one party to another.

“Senator Kwankwaso is firmly committed to the ideals, vision and principles of the NNPP. Governor Yusuf was elected on the party’s platform and remains a member with a responsibility to uphold the mandate freely given to him by the people of Kano State.

“His Excellency, Senator Kwankwaso neither endorsed nor expressed support for any alleged move by the governor to defect to the APC. As such, claims suggesting otherwise amount to a deliberate misrepresentation of facts,” the statement held.

As the two political allies – Yusuf and Kwankwaso – engage in political mind games, it could be seen that the political godfather was reluctant to let his political godson exercise freedom of choice of platform in a bid to use his leadership of NNPP and control of Kano as a bargaining chip for his political future.

Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential runner on NNPP flag, had weeks back told supporters that thronged his Miller Road residence that there have been offers to him to join APC and other parties. However, he said he made it a condition that he could only switch parties if offered the presidential or vice-presidential ticket and guaranteed betterment of his supporters.

The Guardian gathered that while President Tinubu was being pressured to call the bluff of the former NNPP presidential candidate, he (Kwankwaso) is in talks with some leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on the possibility of pairing up with a southern candidate as presidential running mate. Multiple sources in ADC disclosed that the former Kano State governor is being considered for the vice-presidential slot due to his control of Kano voters and mass following of the Kwankwasiyya group.

In the clash of political variables available to godfather and godson, the governor feels that crossing over to APC offers him a wider range of opportunities to play into national politics and freedom from the limiting shadow of the NNPP leader.

Having been promised by President Tinubu and the APC headship of the Kano State structure, Yusuf believes that his track records of achievements in office and direct access to federal might makes APC a bird in hand which is worth many in the bush.

While Kwankwaso seems to rue Governor Yusuf’s defection to APC, which is expected to be the last of such moves before the ruling party concludes its electronic membership registration across the federation, the imminent loss of the state and its resources seems more frightening, particularly if he gets the vice-presidential ticket. In Nigeria’s high stakes politics, going into a presidential race without the control of the vaults of a state could be very draining, both in finance and followership.

Although Yusuf in his characteristic pacifist approach does not want any form of physical confrontation between his supporters and the Kwankwasiyya group, it was obvious that apprehensions that the exuberant followers of the former NNPP presidential candidate could descend into violent exchanges necessitated the deployment of a combined team of police and Department of State Security (DSS) operatives to the Kano State Government House.

As the red cap symbol of the Kwankwasiyya gradually gets replaced with the broken chain Asiwaju caps, residents of the state are upbeat about the imminent change of party by the governor. There are indicators that many well-heeled politicians from the state in the embattled PDP, like Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, may join Yusuf in the cross over to APC.

A close aide of the governor confided in The Guardian that Yusuf cautioned officials of his administration against making any derogatory remarks against Kwankwaso, threatening that he would not hesitate to sack any appointee that flouts that gag order.

Meantime, some residents of the state expressed their readiness to join the governor on the APC platform, saying that within the past three years, the governor has shown himself as a humble and listening servant.

The pioneer Director of Planning, Research and Statistics (DPRS) in the Kano Government House, Muhammad Adamu Nababa, told The Guardian that a generality of Kano indigenes favour the governor’s planned defection to APC.

Nababa disclosed that there were some very influential persons that are working behind the scene to ensure that the defection did not sail through, noting that those who are trying to forestall the governor’s defection are mainly politicians that are very close to the former NNPP presidential contender.

While contrasting the development in Kano with what obtained in Kaduna State when former governor Nasir el-Rufai left APC, Nababa, stated: “The truth is, it’s not bad that you mentor somebody, but when you mentor somebody, you have to behave like a school teacher. A school teacher is always proud to see his/her students outgrow him/her.

“But politicians don’t always take it that way. They want to see that if they mentor you, you remain in their shadow forever. And that is not humanly possible, especially with the kind of politics now in Nigeria. A leader is supposed to be given space to play his part, to exercise his power, to use his own initiatives, not to be dictated to on virtually every step. It no longer works.”

He noted that Governor Yusuf is well accepted by most segments of Kano society, remarking that many see Kwankwaso as a very dictatorial and domineering person, who wants to always have everybody under the rule of his “thumb, every time, everywhere, on anything.”

Unlike challenges that the Kano State governor has to confront, Governor Muftwang may have been counting the cost of his defection ever since he was made to operate with an APC-dominated State House of Assembly.

While Muftwang’s defection puts him beyond control or reproach by Jang, he would learn to accommodate the interests of the APC National Chairman, Yilwatda, Senator Simon Lalong and former governor Joshua Dariye.

Also, even if the claim that the governor has been barred from seeking a re-election by APC leaders is true, his new-found freedom has been winning him plaudits and solidarity from stakeholders across party lines in the state.

In a message of congratulation to the governor for crossing over to APC, a former governor of the state, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, chided some APC stalwarts for trying to resist his entry, stressing that the fact that the governor was able to maintain a harmonious working relationship with the APC-led House of Assembly was enough for the party to welcome him (Muftwang) with open arms.

“I wish to congratulate the governor of Plateau State, H.E Caleb Mutfwang for the bold step he took by freeing himself from slavery and extricating himself from the shackles of those who think they own PDP. In their arrogance, they consistently undermined what PDP stands for, leading to the sorry state the party has found itself in today,” Tapgun stated.

The APC national chairman, Yilwatda, stressed that Mutfwang’s decision to join the APC is a strategic gain for the ruling party, noting that his entry has made the entire North-Central geopolitical zone an APC stronghold.

It would be seen how the APC national chairman and Muftwang harmonise their positions as party leaders at the centre and the state level respectively in such a way that Yilwatda’s desire to throw up a preferred governorship candidate in 2027 does not deny the incumbent an automatic second term ticket like his colleagues.