The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), on Tuesday condemned the defection of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), accusing the current federal system of undermining true federalism and reducing state governors to mere subordinates of the presidency.
The party’s National Secretary, Dipo Olayoku, stated this while speaking on ‘Frontline’ on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu monitored by Morning Star News
Olayoku described Yusuf’s defection as a move symptomatic of a broader collapse of constitutional federalism in Nigeria.
“This is Nigeria of today. We are supposed to have three tiers of government, national, state and local, each with constitutionally defined powers. But unfortunately today, what we have in Nigeria is a principal, that is the president, and class captains, the governors. That is what the current administration has reduced our governors to.”
Governor Yusuf on January 27, 2026 formally joined the APC alongside 22 Kano State House of Assembly members and nine federal lawmakers at an event held in the Coronation Hall of the Kano Government House. He said the decision followed extensive consultations and was aimed at strengthening governance and accelerating development in the state.
Yusuf is the eighth state governor to defect to the APC since April 2025, following transitions by governors in Delta, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Bayelsa, Plateau, Rivers, and Taraba states. The trend has fuelled speculation about the diminishing strength of opposition parties ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Olayoku however said the defection was not entirely surprising but remained unsettling for party leadership. His words, “It didn’t come as a surprise, but it is shocking. The hints of a possible defection had surfaced more than a year ago. It is important to understand that Governor Aba Kabir Yusuf’s defection wasn’t something we could have prevented. We did everything possible within our reach, but ultimately, the decision was his. There are pressures in our democracy today that make situations like this inevitable. We’ve seen similar cases, like Governor Siminalayi Fubara in Rivers State, and the pressures from the ruling party can be intense”, he said.
Olayoku claimed that Governor Yusuf had faced intense pressure from external forces and persistent obstruction by federal institutions, which he argued made governance difficult. “If you have a governor that will give an order and the Commissioner of Police counter it, then it tells you the type of democracy we are on,” Olayoku said.
“This isn’t about mismanagement; it’s about the realities of the democracy we practice in Nigeria. The national security of the party and certain sensitive factors prevent me from going into all the details publicly. But Nigerians should pay attention to the forces at play that are influencing governors to move to the APC”, he said.
Olayoku warned that the trend of defections reflects a threat to Nigeria’s multiparty democracy, one that goes beyond party politics.
“It is not a lesson for NNPP. It is a wake-up call to Nigerians. Multi-party democracy in Nigeria is under serious threat. Federalism means that the federal, state, and local governments, each has defined powers. But when a president reminds governors, saying, ‘I am the President and Commander-in-Chief’, and pressures them to act a certain way, it undermines that system. The balance of powers is clear in law, but in practice, it’s being challenged. That’s not the kind of democracy Nigerians fought for in 1999. Multi-party democracy is under threat when opposition parties and their leaders can’t operate freely without intimidation or pressure”, he said.
Commenting on the prevalent economic hardship among the masses, Olayoku questioned claims by the APC-led government that the administration is performing well, the NNPP Scribe said, “If you go to the market now and price things, you’ll see what Nigerians are really experiencing. People often say, “Oh, you don’t expect prices to remain the same after the fuel subsidy was removed.” But that’s not an achievement—it’s suffering. In 2012, fuel was 65 Naira; under President Jonathan, it went to 141 Naira. The current administration came in May 2023, and within three months, fuel jumped from 187 Naira to 1,000 Naira.
“When the government says it is “doing well,” I ask: doing well for whom? Nigerians are struggling. People in the market, families trying to survive—they know the reality. Doing well has a very different meaning when you compare it to what people are actually experiencing,” he said.
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