Nentawe Yilwatda Emerges APC National Chairman
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Nentawe Yilwatda, has emerged as the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) following his nomination and election by the members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.
The chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, Governor Hope Uzodimma, nominated him for the position, and the motion was seconded by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen.
The motion was then put to a voice vote and passed by NEC members present at the meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
His emergence is coming at a time when the APC is battling to consolidate its hold on power at the federal level and in some states, which recently defected to the ruling party.
The 56-year-old Yilwatda takes over from Abdullahi Ganduje as the chairman of the party after the latter resigned from the position in June, citing personal reasons.
Yilwatda, a former APC governorship candidate in Plateau State, is a technocrat and politician with roots in engineering, governance reform, and party politics.
Born on August 8, 1968, in Dungung, Kanke Local Government Area of Plateau State, he is the son of the late Rev and Mrs Toma Yilwatda.
He studied Electrical/Electronic Engineering at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, graduating in 1992.
He went on to obtain a Master’s in Engineering from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and a PhD from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, with a specialisation in Digital Systems Engineering.
Yilwatda has international training in e-governance from the United Nations University in Macau, China.
During the 2023 general elections, he served as the coordinator of the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign in Plateau State and contested the governorship election under the APC platform.
After losing the election to the PDP, Yilwatda challenged the outcome in court but later accepted the Supreme Court’s decision in favour of the PDP.
Within the APC, Yilwatda maintains a strong alliance with former Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong.
He maintains a close political relationship with former governor Simon Lalong and was widely tipped for a ministerial position following Lalong’s move to the Senate.
Yilwatda was later nominated as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation before being named the party’s substantive chairman.A
