The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reportedly settled for Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, as the new national chairman.
According to Premium Times, Yilwatda emerged as the consensus nominee after a late-night meeting between President Bola Tinubu and APC governors.
The decision is expected to be ratified at the National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for today, July 24, 2025.
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.
The push for a new chairman follows Ganduje’s resignation, which came amid internal protests, particularly from North Central stakeholders, who felt short-changed after the abrupt exit of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, following the 2023 general election that produced President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Party insiders confirmed that zoning the chairmanship back to the North Central and giving priority to a Christian is a strategic move to placate aggrieved stakeholders and address concerns, especially under the Muslim-Muslim presidency of Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
If confirmed, Yeltwatda will replace acting chairman Ali Bukar Dalori, who previously served as deputy national chairman before stepping in after Ganduje’s departure.
Some insiders told Daily Trust that Dalori could have remained in an acting capacity for a longer period “but for some obvious reasons.”
“He is from Borno State, the same state as Vice President Shettima,” one source said. “And beyond that, there is no time to keep playing to the gallery. The president and the APC want to resolve the chairmanship issue once and for all. Tinubu wants someone who will be as loyal to him as Senator Adamu was to President Buhari.”
Yilwatda became a minister after his political mentor and former Plateau governor, Senator Simon Lalong, resigned from the cabinet to return to the Senate following the Court of Appeal’s sacking of the PDP lawmaker, earlier declared winner for Plateau South Senatorial District.
Before his ministerial appointment, Yilwatda was the APC governorship candidate in Plateau in the 2023 elections, losing to Governor Caleb Mutfwang of the PDP. A loyalist of Lalong, he defeated the former governor’s deputy, Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, and three others to clinch the APC ticket.
He also served as the state coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organisation during the 2023 elections.
Between July 2017 and December 2021, Yilwatda was the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue State—a role he resigned from to contest the APC governorship primary in 2022. Before that, he was ICT director at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, for 12 years.
Born on August 8, 1968, in Dungung, Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State, Yilwatda hails from a family of religious individuals—the late Rev. and Mrs. Toma Yilwatda. He earned a degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering in 1992 from the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi. He later obtained a master’s degree from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and a PhD in Digital Systems Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
He is also a community development expert and lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, with over 29 years’ experience as a consultant for international development partners, and both the public and private sectors.