The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed Professor Nentawe Yilwatda as its new National Chairman, following the resignation of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who stepped down citing health challenges.
Yilwatda, currently the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a former academic, emerged as the party’s consensus candidate after a late-night meeting in Abuja involving President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and APC governors. His appointment is expected to be formally ratified by the National Executive Committee (NEC) at its meeting later today.
A native of Plateau State, the 56-year-old politician was the APC governorship candidate during the 2023 elections. He is widely admired for his academic background and administrative expertise. His selection is consistent with the APC’s zoning arrangement, which allocates the chairmanship to the North-Central region, comprising Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, and Niger states.
Sources within the party revealed that Yilwatda’s Christian faith was a key factor in his emergence, as the APC leadership sought to balance its religious representation, with both the President and Vice President being Muslims.
Before entering mainstream politics, Yilwatda was an engineering lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. He also served as a Resident Electoral Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) between 2017 and 2021, where he oversaw key elections in states including Benue, Anambra, Osun, Rivers, and Cross River.
APC leaders have expressed confidence that Yilwatda’s combination of academic excellence, electoral expertise, and political experience will help strengthen the party’s position ahead of future contests.
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