Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his Kano State counterpart, Abba Yusuf, are facing uncertainty over their chances of securing second-term tickets in the All Progressives Congress.
Fubara has formally defected to the APC, while Yusuf is expected to join the ruling party anytime from now after his official resignation from the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
However, multiple sources in the APC say the governors’ return tickets are not guaranteed because powerful party leaders and entrenched political interests in Rivers and Kano states are contesting their ambitions.
This has triggered intense maneuvering within the APC in both states, with governorship aspirants vowing to resist any attempt to impose the two governors and insisting that transparent and competitive primaries must be conducted ahead of the 2027 elections.
Fubara defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC on December 9, a move widely regarded as a political realignment aimed at securing his second-term ambition.
His defection heightened tension between him and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who insisted that Fubara’s second term is not guaranteed even under the APC.
While Wike has continued to push for President Bola Tinubu’s second term, he has also been mobilising Rivers stakeholders, including APC and PDP leaders, against Fubara’s return bid.
On the other hand, the Kano governor resigned from the NNPP alongside 21 members of the Kano State House of Assembly, eight members of the House of Representatives, and 44 local government chairmen on Friday, after weeks of reports about his move to join the APC.
However, the Deputy Governor of the state, Aminu AbdulSalam, and the National Leader of the NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, remained in the party.
APC officials, who spoke with Sunday PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said while some of the ‘new APC governors’ had been assured of return tickets, no conclusion had been reached on Fubara and Yusuf.
One of the insiders, a member of the National Working Committee, cited the “peculiarity of the two states” as an impediment to the finalization of their second-term tickets.
Speaking on what he described as defection and negotiation terms, the party official said the return tickets of some governors who joined the APC from the PDP had been finalized.
He said, “A major negotiation each of the then PDP governors had with us (APC leaders and the Presidency), with the approval of the President, was that their return tickets must be guaranteed. So, any governor who defects to the APC will get the ticket. It may not be automatic, but they will have their way.
