President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has affirmed that governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) remain the leaders of the party in their respective states, even as a wave of defections reshapes Nigeria’s political terrain.
Tinubu made the declaration on Saturday during the official reception of Governor Agbu Kefas into the APC in Jalingo, Taraba State, an event that underlined the ruling party’s continued expansion ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Represented at the occasion by Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima, the president stressed that governors who join the APC assume party leadership roles in their states by virtue of their positions.
On Governor Kefas’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tinubu said he would support the governor and his team to “bring development to Taraba” and urged residents “to rally behind the governor and support him to succeed.”
The president also voiced satisfaction with having a governor defect in the North East geopolitical zone, and encouraged leaders in Adamawa and Bauchi to consider joining the ruling party to broaden its national appeal.
Speaking earlier at the event, APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda hailed Kefas’s defection as a bold move, saying the governor “did not make a mistake by leaving the sinking PDP for the APC” and that it would help the state’s youths and women become more productive.
In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio also congratulated Taraba people and the governor, adding that the governor’s move would accelerate development and strengthen security in the state.
Governor Kefas, who won his last election on the PDP platform, stressed that his defection was intended “to bring jobs for the jobless and business for entrepreneurs,” and to help tackle division, poverty, tribalism, and insecurity.
Political analysts say this pronouncement by Tinubu comes amid a significant realignment in Nigeria’s state politics, with several governors elected on non-APC platforms joining the ruling party over the past year.
