Power Shift Looms: APC Set tTo Install Tinubu’s Loyalist As Acting National Chairman

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, is reportedly set to be appointed as the Acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Barring any last-minute changes, Yilwatda is expected to be officially named at the upcoming National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting scheduled for Thursday in Abuja.

Following Abdullahi Ganduje’s resignation as National Chairman on June 27, Ali Bukar Dalori, the Deputy National Chairman (North), has been serving in an acting capacity.

According to The Whistler, in addition to Yilwatda’s expected appointment, the ruling party will also address pressing internal issues that threaten party unity.

Born on August 8, 1968, Yilwatda is a seasoned engineer and academic from Plateau State, currently serving as a federal minister under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who appointed him in October 2024. He previously contested as the APC governorship candidate in Plateau State during the 2023 general elections.

From July 2017 to December 2021, he served as the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue State, and earlier worked for 12 years as the Director of ICT at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi.

During the 2023 elections, he was also the Coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organization in Plateau State. Yilwatda is known to have a strong alliance with former Governor Simon Lalong.

After Lalong vacated the Plateau ministerial slot to assume his role as a Senator, several APC stakeholders backed Yilwatda as a suitable replacement.

Yilwatda had challenged the PDP’s victory in the 2023 Plateau gubernatorial election in court, but eventually accepted the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the PDP win.