Following the ouster of President Mamadou Tandja in February 2010, Yacouba was General Rapporteur of the National Advisory Council, set up by the junta that ousted Tandja, in the 2010–2011 transitional period.

[1] Yacouba, a member of the ruling Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS), was appointed to the government as Minister of Transport in April 2012 and then moved to the post of Deputy Director of the Cabinet of President Mahamadou Issoufou in September 2013.

However, following a dispute with some leading PNDS members, he was expelled from the party on 23 August 2015.

[1] Yacouba launched a new party, the Nigerien Patriotic Movement (MPN), on 8 November 2015.

Issoufou was re-elected, and he rewarded Yacouba and other minor candidates who backed him with government posts;[3] Yacouba was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 11 April 2016.