The newly selected National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has revealed how he emerged as the party’s leader despite being very calm, gentle, and easygoing.
The former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs will be in charge of over 20 APC states and a majority in the National Assembly.
Responding to a question on how he intends to handle the ruling party, the Plateau-born politician said he would follow in the footsteps of President Bola Tinubu.
“Look at the body language of Mr. President, soft, calm, and gentle. You can see where he is driving the country’s economy, taking tough decisions where people fear to even discuss,” he responded on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday.
Asked if he would be taking tough decisions, he interrupted, “I will, because that’s what the President asked me to do, and the members asked me to do also. Take tough decisions, but with a gentle tone and also incorporate teamwork in it for collective interest in the party.”
He said that the decisions would not come from him alone, adding that he is not the sole member of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
“It’s our party. It is all about consultation, because I am a coordinator of the national and the sub-nationals,” he said.
“Well, you should know, based on our party constitution, the structure of the parties starts from the ward. The wards are owned by the governors and the state party chairmen,” he added. “We have very little job here to do, just coordination.”
Speaking on how he was nominated by the governors, he said, “They endorsed me.”
Asked the kind of politics he played to attain this position without having a governor in his state, he explained, “You can see how exemplary APC displayed. Very smooth, very mature, no controversy, because this party is built on consultation.
“So almost everything was done based on consultations. You consult, you discuss, because that is what politics is all about. It was consultation at all levels.”