APC defends Yilwatda amidst fierce opposition over INEC ties

Yilwatda

The emergence of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, as the new national chairman of the All Progressives Congress is not sitting well with some Nigerians, particularly members of the opposition.

Yilwatda’s previous role as a Resident Electoral Commissioner with the Independent National Electoral Commission is viewed by the opposition as a strategic move by President Bola Tinubu to compromise the commission’s independence ahead of the 2027 general election.

The new APC national chairman emerged from the National Executive Committee meeting of the party held on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Yilwatda, who resigned as INEC REC for Benue State in 2022, replaced the erstwhile national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who resigned his appointment on June 27, 2025, due to health issues.

The new national chairman, a former engineering lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, was appointed REC in July 2017 and posted to Benue State. During his four-year stay in office, he participated in the conduct of elections in Benue, Anambra, Osun, Rivers and Cross River states.

He contested the 2023 Plateau State governorship election on the platform of the APC, initially secured victories at the election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal, but ultimately lost to the incumbent Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, at the Supreme Court.

Speaking with The PUNCH, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party, Diran Odeyemi, said the new APC chairman’s appointment had invariably brought to the fore the doubt about INEC’s neutrality in the elections to be held under his chairmanship.

He said, “This appointment has again exposed who Prof Yilwatda is. He has APC DNA, which raises serious concerns about his neutrality in his previous assignments, through which he got the new appointment as APC national chairman. This again raises the question of how truly independent INEC is.