Second-term Tickets in Doubt: Fubara, Yusuf Walk Into APC… and Meet a Wall

By: Abudu Olalekan

Rivers and Kano politics just got that “anything can happen” feeling again. Two sitting governors — Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers and Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano — are drifting (or running) toward the APC ahead of 2027. But the big prize they want, the second-term ticket, is not sitting on the table waiting for them. Not at all.

Here’s the part people miss: joining a ruling party can look like a shortcut, yes. But inside the party, shortcuts annoy people. A lot. And right now, party heavyweights, old structures, and long-time aspirants in both states are basically saying: “We’ve been here. We suffered here. You won’t just stroll in and pick the ticket.” That’s the tension. Quiet on the outside, noisy behind closed doors.

Rivers: Fubara’s move is bold. But it’s also messy.

Fubara formally defected from the PDP to the APC on December 9, 2025. He explained it as a survival-and-support decision, saying his former party didn’t “protect” him, while the APC (and President Bola Tinubu’s intervention, in his telling) did. It sounded like a man choosing shelter in the rain. Straight talk.

But Rivers APC is not one single house. It’s more like a compound with too many gates.

One major issue is the factional fight inside Rivers APC. And that’s where the story starts to wobble. Tonye Cole, the APC’s 2023 governorship candidate in Rivers, has publicly argued that Fubara aligned himself with the wrong side of the Rivers APC leadership struggle — pointing to a battle involving the Tony Okocha and Emeka Beke camps. In his view, that choice could even create legal and political complications. Not a small claim.

So when people say, “APC will just give him the ticket,” others respond with one word: how? Which structure will hand it to him? Which faction signs off? Rivers is always Rivers. Nothing is simple there.

And then there’s the Wike factor. Not officially “in the room” in this write-up, but you can feel his shadow in the Rivers conversation, because Rivers politics doesn’t move without power blocs pushing and pulling.

Kano: Yusuf resigns NNPP, but the landing in APC isn’t smooth either.

In Kano, Governor Abba Yusuf made his own big move: he resigned from the NNPP on Friday, January 23, 2026, and he didn’t go alone. According to multiple reports, he exited alongside 21 members of the Kano State House of Assembly, eight members of the House of Representatives, and 44 local government chairmen. That’s not a quiet resignation. That’s a convoy.

He framed it around internal party problems and ongoing crises. The letter, the tone, the gratitude — it was written like a man closing a chapter carefully, not burning the book.

But even this story has complications. The NNPP founder, Boniface Aniebonam, has pushed back publicly, claiming Yusuf didn’t resign from the NNPP itself but from the Kwankwasiyya Movement, arguing the resignation wasn’t addressed to the “authentic” party structure (as he sees it). That’s the kind of dispute that can drag on and create confusion in public space. Kano politics loves a technical fight.

And here’s the real APC headache in Kano: you can’t just arrive and expect everybody to clap.

Kano APC already has long-standing interests, old alliances, and ambition everywhere. Plus, Kwankwaso’s base matters in Kano’s arithmetic, and after Yusuf’s resignation, there were reports and reactions showing Kwankwaso still has his loyal camp. Whether Yusuf can move voters without that engine is part of the silent argument around him.

What this uncertainty really means (in plain words)

A return ticket inside APC is not only about being a governor. It’s about:

structure (who controls delegates and ward machinery),
unity (whether factions will cooperate or sabotage),
electability math (can you actually deliver votes),
and plain politics: who feels cheated.

That’s why Rivers and Kano are heating up early. Not because election is tomorrow. But because the fight for the ticket always starts before the posters.