APC Chairmanship: Yilwatda May Succeed Ganduje As President, Govs Seal Deal

By Ayodele Oni

Barring any last minute political power play, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Prof Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, may be returned as the new national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s National Executive Committee, (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday.

This is one of the major decisions reached Wednesday night at a meeting of the APC Governors with President Bola Tinubu.

The meeting was a preclude to the larger one which comes up later on Thursday, which will involve major stakeholders of the ruling party, which forms NEC.

A source at the governor’s meeting with the president confirmed that Yilwatda, has emerged the new National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

“Yilwatda’s emergence has finally laid to rest the intense speculations over who replaces the immediate past national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who resigned from the position on health grounds.

“His appointment came ahead of Thursday’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling party, after the stakeholders’ parley involving President Bola Tinubu, the APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) among others, held at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Wednesday night,” the report adds.

It quotes an unnamed member of APC’s National Working Committee (NWC) as disclosing that Prof Yilwatda’s appointment is to ensure that a democrat takes over the affairs of the party, instead of the hitherto regular politicians that have presided over the party previously.

“The NWC source also based the choice of Yilwatda, who is a Christian, on the resolve of the party leaders to correct the religious imbalance in the hierarchy of the party’s national positions, describing it as strategic.

“Appointed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs last year, Yilwatda was the APC Plateau governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections.

“Born on August 8, 1968 in Dungung, Kanke LG to the family of a clergy, Late Rev and Mrs Toma Yilwatda, he came with huge administrative and electoral experiences.

“He was appointed in 2017 as a Commissioner with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and posted to Benue State as the Resident Electoral Commissioner.

“As a registered Engineer with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), member Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, member Nigeria Society of Engineers, member Solar Society of Nigeria, he came as a professional after an intense networking.”