President Bola Tinubu has reportedly appointed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, the new National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

This development has put to rest the intense speculations over who will replace the immediate past national chairman, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who resigned from the position on health grounds.

A member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) who spoke to Daily Sun stated that Yilwatda’s appointment is based on the decision of the party leaders to ensure that a democrat takes over the affairs of the party instead of the hitherto regular politicians who have superintended over the party previously.

His appointment came ahead of today’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the ruling party, after the stakeholders’ parley involving President Bola Tinubu, the APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), among others, held at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Wednesday night.

The NWC source also based the choice of Yilwatda, a Christian, on the resolve of the party leaders to correct the religious imbalance in the hierarchy of the party’s national positions, describing it as strategic.

Appointed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs last year, Yilwatda was the APC Plateau governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections.

Born on August 8, 1968, in Dungung, Kanke LG, to the family of a clergy, Late Rev and Toma Yilwatda, he came with huge administrative and electoral experiences.

He was appointed in 2017 as a Commissioner with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and posted to Benue State as the Resident Electoral Commissioner.

As a registered Engineer with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, member of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, member of the Solar Society of Nigeria, he came as a professional after an intense networking.