₦airaland Forum

Professor Yilwatda comes to the APC with a blend of academic, bureaucratic, and political experience.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has settled on a new national chairman, with Professor Nentawe Yilwatda emerging as the consensus nominee to lead Nigeria’s ruling party, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.

Mr Yilwatda, the current Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a former university don, was nominated to replace Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who recently resigned from the position citing health concerns.

His emergence followed a late-night meeting in Abuja between President Bola Tinubu and governors elected on the platform of the APC, sources familiar with the development told PREMIUM TIMES. The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to ratify his appointment at a meeting scheduled for later today.

Mr Yilwatda, 56, hails from Plateau State and was the APC’s gubernatorial candidate in the state during the 2023 general elections. His nomination aligns with the party’s zoning arrangement, which allocated the national chairmanship to the North-Central geopolitical zone comprising Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states.

Multiple party insiders said his Christian faith also worked in his favour. With both the President and Vice President being Muslims, APC leaders reportedly reasoned that appointing a Christian chairman would help the party project inclusivity and appeal more broadly to voters of other faiths.

“He is young, suave, well-educated, and doesn’t carry the usual political baggage,” a senior party official told PREMIUM TIMES. “We believe he can give the party a new face and restore credibility ahead of future elections.”

Professor Yilwatda comes with a blend of academic, bureaucratic, and political experience. Before venturing into politics, he was an engineering lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. He also served as a Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) between 2017 and 2021, overseeing elections in Benue, Anambra, Osun, Rivers, and Cross River states.

In December 2021, he resigned abruptly from INEC and returned to Plateau State, where he joined the APC and quickly rose to become its governorship candidate. Although he lost the election to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Tinubu later named him Minister of Humanitarian Affairs.

His selection as APC chairman signals an apparent shift in strategy for the ruling party, which has in recent years faced growing criticism over internal divisions, declining popularity in some regions, and leadership instability.

Party leaders hope that under Mr Yilwatda’s leadership, the APC can rejuvenate its image and consolidate power ahead of future electoral contests.

Penguin2:
Since the coalition emerged, there’s nothing Tinubu has not done.

He has started appointing northerners to positions. All of a sudden we are no longer hearing Ogunleye, Olaniyi, when appointments are announced.

Now, he’s going for a Middle Belt Christian as APC chairman.

Don’t be surprised if Tinubu shows up at your door tomorrow to deliver KFC chicken 😏.

The fool was being arrogant because he thought he had killed all opposition but he’s been woken up to the reality that this is Nigeria.

He dared to play in the waters that even Abacha didn’t survive in.

We’ll see how that goes.

Ofunaofu:
This won't change the fact that Tinubu and the APC are heading for a heavy defeat come 2027. Nigerians won't want to endure another four years of this wicked and draconian regime, which has only succeeded in inflicting untold hardship, strife, hunger, and starvation

Ofunaofu:
What’s truly worth studying at Harvard is how a government can wreck an economy in just two years, plunge millions into poverty, and still have people like you laughing like trained seals, calling yourself an Agbadoos' and chorusing 'standing on a mandate' a very dilapidated mandate at that while the country burns. There’s nothing entertaining about hunger, joblessness, or failed leadership, unless, of course, you’re one of the few feeding fat off the rot.

Penguin2:
Since the coalition emerged, there’s nothing Tinubu has not done.

He has started appointing northerners to positions. All of a sudden we are no longer hearing Ogunleye, Olaniyi, when appointments are announced.

Now, he’s going for a Middle Belt Christian as APC chairman.

Don’t be surprised if Tinubu shows up at your door tomorrow to deliver KFC chicken 😏.

The fool was being arrogant because he thought he had killed all opposition but he’s been woken up to the reality that this is Nigeria.

He dared to play in the waters that even Abacha didn’t survive in.

We’ll see how that goes.

Putindbutt:
The reason why I like you people is the entertainment you provide us on social media. How people will spend a four year cycle, wailing, crying, projecting, fabricating, insinuating, concocting, prophesying, dreaming, hating, lamenting and finally losing, it has to be studied in Harvard 😂😂😂

Putindbutt:
The reason why I like you people is the entertainment you provide us on social media. How people will spend a four year cycle, wailing, crying, projecting, fabricating, insinuating, concocting, prophesying, dreaming, hating, lamenting and finally losing, it has to be studied in Harvard 😂😂😂

Putindbutt:
The reason why I like you people is the entertainment you provide us on social media. How people will spend a four year cycle, wailing, crying, projecting, fabricating, insinuating, concocting, prophesying, dreaming, hating, lamenting and finally losing, it has to be studied in Harvard 😂😂😂

Maxymilliano:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/809294-professor-emerges-new-apc-national-chairman-as-tinubu-governors-approve-nominee.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawLu0SZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhmJrvsgELXNKz_JbwtJ_YNzdfbEPJc_LRo7BUdwAJhJ80HVvC7_dGjYN5Py_aem_-X5mbPO2SQtcC1MMIkcT_Q

AMINDA:
Lacklustre appointment. Apart from alienating last elements of the CPC bloc, Tinubu has gained nothing with this appointment. Nassarawa, Kogi, and Niger are now up for grabs by the coalition.

Penguin2:
Since the coalition emerged, there’s nothing Tinubu has not done.

He has started appointing northerners to positions. All of a sudden we are no longer hearing Ogunleye, Olaniyi, when appointments are announced.

Now, he’s going for a Middle Belt Christian as APC chairman.

Don’t be surprised if Tinubu shows up at your door tomorrow to deliver KFC chicken 😏.

The fool was being arrogant because he thought he had killed all opposition but he’s been woken up to the reality that this is Nigeria.

He dared to play in the waters that even Abacha didn’t survive in.

We’ll see how that goes.

Softmirror:
Don't mind those ones, they like crying all the time. But the reality is, "APC started with 59 Senators and 162 Reps in June 2023. Then the Coalitionist came determined to remove PBAT on or before 2027 election.The problem is that each time any of their leaders says "We Will Remove Tinubu" APC gets 1 extra Senator and 3 Reps. By my last count they have said it 14 times. Now APC Senators have jumped 59 to 72 (+13) and Reps moved 162 to 207 (+45). Advice them to stop saying it in their own interest"

AMINDA:
Lacklustre appointment. Apart from alienating last elements of the CPC bloc, Tinubu has gained nothing with this appointment. Nassarawa, Kogi, and Niger are now up for grabs by the coalition.

Penguin2:
Since the coalition emerged, there’s nothing Tinubu has not done.

He has started appointing northerners to positions. All of a sudden we are no longer hearing Ogunleye, Olaniyi, when appointments are announced.

Now, he’s going for a Middle Belt Christian as APC chairman.

Don’t be surprised if Tinubu shows up at your door tomorrow to deliver KFC chicken 😏.

The fool was being arrogant because he thought he had killed all opposition but he’s been woken up to the reality that this is Nigeria.

He dared to play in the waters that even Abacha didn’t survive in.

We’ll see how that goes.

Putindbutt:
The reason why I like you people is the entertainment you provide us on social media. How people will spend a four year cycle, wailing, crying, projecting, fabricating, insinuating, concocting, prophesying, dreaming, hating, lamenting and finally losing, it has to be studied in Harvard 😂😂😂

Justnation:
I sincerely pity Prof.
I can't imagine him campaigning for tinubu and APC it will be a total aberration.

Ofunaofu:
This won't change the fact that Tinubu and the APC are heading for a heavy defeat come 2027. Nigerians won't want to endure another four years of this wicked and draconian regime, whose calamitous policies masquerading as economic reforms have eroded the entire middle class and pushed the majority of Nigerians into extreme poverty, inflicting untold hardship, strife, hunger, and starvation.