KANO — The All Progressives Congress (APC) has achieved a total legislative takeover in Kano State after 22 members of the House of Assembly officially defected from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on Monday, January 26, 2026.
The mass defection, led by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Jibril Ismail Falgore, and Deputy Speaker Muhammad Bello Butu Butu, followed the seismic exit of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf from the NNPP just days prior. The move has effectively dismantled the NNPP’s legislative control, leaving the party with only two representatives in the 40-member chamber. With this realignment, the APC now commands a staggering 36-seat supermajority, while two seats remain vacant due to recent vacancies.
In a formal session on Monday, Majority Leader Lawan Hussaini cited “irreconcilable internal crises” and “stifling leadership disputes” within the NNPP as the primary catalysts for the exodus. The lawmakers asserted that their transition to the APC was necessary to align Kano’s interests with the federal government and ensure the state benefits from President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda.
The legislative shift was part of a broader political earthquake that saw all 44 local government chairmen and eight members of the House of Representatives follow Governor Yusuf into the APC. The Governor was officially received into the party at a high-profile ceremony in Kano, attended by APC stalwarts including former National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje and Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin.
However, the political consolidation has not come without a cost to the state’s executive unity. As the lawmakers moved to the APC, the ideological core of the Kwankwasiyya movement, led by the son of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Mustapha Kwankwaso, resigned from the cabinet. The younger Kwankwaso, who served as Commissioner for Youth and Sports, led a wave of resignations by several commissioners who chose to remain loyal to the NNPP, signaling a definitive fracture in the coalition that won the 2023 elections.
Political analysts describe this as the final collapse of the NNPP’s dominance in its primary stronghold. While Senator Kwankwaso has labeled the mass defection an “act of betrayal” and declared January 23 as an annual “World Betrayal Day,” the APC now holds an undisputed grip on both the executive and legislative arms of Kano State. As of Tuesday, January 27, 2026, the APC has moved to formalize the new majority leadership in the House, setting the stage for a new era of governance in Nigeria’s most populous northern state.
