The All Progressives Congress (APC) has appointed Professor Nentawe Yilwatda as its new national chairman after emerging as a consensus candidate for the position.
The new APC chairman is the current Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a former university don.He replaces 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 which culminated in the ratification of his appointment by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of party today in Abuja.
Professor Yilwatda,56, comes to the APC with a blend of academic, bureaucratic, and political experience.
He 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,
It was reasoned that appointing a Christian chairman would help the party project inclusivity and appeal more broadly to voters of other faiths.
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.
