President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, received Taraba State Governor, Agbu Kefas, at the State House, Abuja, marking the governor’s first official visit to the Presidency since his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Kefas arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 1:30 pm and was ushered into a closed-door meeting with the President around 2:00 pm, accompanied by the APC National Chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda.

The visit comes weeks after the governor suspended his planned formal reception into the APC slated for November 19, citing the need for restraint following the abduction of schoolgirls in Maga, Kebbi State.

He described holding a political ceremony at that moment as “insensitive.”

Kefas’s move to the ruling party is part of a broader realignment in Taraba politics, where the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and 15 other lawmakers recently defected from the PDP to the APC.

The lawmakers said they were motivated by a desire to “align with the centre” amid persistent internal crises in the PDP at the national level.

Nationally, the APC has intensified efforts to court opposition heavyweights ahead of the 2027 general elections, with party insiders hinting that more high-profile defections from PDP strongholds across the North and Middle Belt are imminent.

A retired lieutenant colonel in the Nigerian Army, Kefas previously chaired the board of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

He won the March 2023 governorship election on the PDP platform. A native of Wukari, he also served as Taraba State PDP chairman before emerging as the party’s governorship candidate.