Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has officially announced the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, as its new National Chairman.
SaharaReporters gathered that the announcement was made on Thursday afternoon following a unanimous resolution by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), effectively ending weeks of power tussle and high-level consultations within the APC.
Yilwatda, a former governorship candidate of the party in Plateau State and a staunch loyalist of ex-Governor Simon Lalong, was immediately sworn in at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
Party insiders told SaharaReporters that the decision was sealed late Wednesday after President Bola Tinubu and his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, threw their weight fully behind Yilwatda’s emergence.
According to multiple credible sources, the President had privately directed key party stakeholders and governors to ensure a seamless consensus in favour of the Plateau-born technocrat.
The development also signals the party’s calculated move to return the chairmanship to the North Central zone, a position originally zoned to the region before it was controversially handed to former Kano State governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who resigned earlier this month under pressure.
Yilwatda’s selection is seen as more than symbolic.
As a Christian from the Middle Belt, his emergence is widely interpreted as an attempt by Tinubu’s camp to assuage regional and religious discontent that followed the imposition of a Muslim-Muslim presidency in 2023.
Party sources also confirmed that Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, a former Nasarawa governor and serving senator, was seriously considered for the role but was edged out after intense lobbying by the Tinubu camp.
Earlier reports had indicated that both Al-Makura and Yilwatda were shortlisted in the final hours before Thursday’s NEC meeting, with governors and NWC members under pressure to rally behind a candidate seen as loyal to the president and electorally viable ahead of 2027.
The NEC also extended the tenure of all APC Ward, Local Government, and State Executive Committees nationwide until December 31, 2025, further consolidating the Tinubu-led structure across the party.
Professor Nentawe Yilwatda is not new to Nigeria’s political and bureaucratic landscape.
Born on August 8, 1968, in Dungung, Kanke LGA of Plateau State, he rose through the ranks as an academic, technocrat, and politician.
A former Director of ICT at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Yilwatda holds a PhD in Digital Systems Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and previously served as Resident Electoral Commissioner for Benue State between 2017 and 2021.
He resigned from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the APC governorship primary in 2022, defeating key party figures including former deputy governor Sonni Tyoden.
Though he lost the 2023 gubernatorial election to PDP’s Caleb Mutfwang, he remained a powerful figure in Plateau APC and was rewarded with a federal cabinet position.
Yilwatda’s appointment to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs came after his mentor, Simon Lalong, returned to the Senate following a controversial Court of Appeal ruling that nullified the PDP’s earlier victory in Plateau South.
Beyond politics, Yilwatda has worked as a consultant for several international development agencies and has over 29 years of experience across academia, civil service, and project management.