Yilwatda’s previous role as a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 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.
Yilwatda emerged as National Chairman from the National Executive Committee meeting of the party held last Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Yilwatda, who resigned as INEC REC for Benue State in 2022, replaced Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, who resigned as APC National Chairman on 27 June 2025, due to ‘health issues’.
A former engineering lecturer at the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Yilwatda was appointed REC in July 2017. 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, and secured victories at the election petitions tribunal and the Court of Appeal, but lost to the incumbent Governor Caleb Mutfwang, at the Supreme Court.
A member of the National Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Diran Odeyemi told The PUNCH that 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.
‘Let’s hope his contemporaries are not in charge of our elections in Nigeria, or can we rightly conclude that election results have been pronounced with the announcement of his name as their new chairman’?
Taking a slightly different position, the National Publicity Secretary of the Young Progressives Party, Wale Egbeola-Martins noted that, though the former minister’s appointment raised some fundamental questions, emphasis should be on reforming the nation’s electoral laws.
He said: ‘While the concerns raised are understandable, the Young Progressives Party believes that the broader and more pressing issue lies in the urgent need to reform Nigeria’s electoral laws.
‘The credibility of our democratic process cannot hinge solely on individuals or their past affiliations but must be built on strong, transparent, and enforceable electoral frameworks.
‘Once our electoral laws are thoroughly reformed and institutionalised, fears of undue influence, whether real or perceived, will be significantly minimised.
‘Strengthening legal safeguards around the electoral process is the surest way to inspire public confidence and ensure that elections truly reflect the will of the people, regardless of who occupies party leadership positions. For us, the focus should be on systemic integrity, not personalities’.
The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) described Yilwatda’s appointment as a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
In an interview with The PUNCH, CUPP’s National Secretary, Peter Ameh said: ‘The recent appointment of Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, a former REC of INEC, as the national chairman of the APC should spark widespread concern about the independence of Nigeria’s electoral system and the health of its democracy.
‘This development, confirmed on 24 July 2025, during the APC’s National Executive Committee meeting, raises serious questions about the impartiality of INEC, the integrity of Nigeria’s electoral processes, and the ruling party’s commitment to upholding democratic principles.
‘The decision to elevate an individual with recent ties to INEC to such a prominent political position is not merely a political manoeuvre; it represents a deliberate erosion of the institutional safeguards that ensure free and fair elections in Nigeria.
‘The appointment of a former REC as the APC’s national chairman, barely three years after his tenure at INEC, creates a perception of compromised neutrality and undermines public confidence in the electoral body’.
Asked to explain how the new APC boss threatened the nation’s electioneering processes, Ameh said: ‘Yilwatda served as an REC in Benue State from 2017 to 2021, a role that required him to embody impartiality and oversee elections with fairness.
‘His subsequent involvement in partisan politics, including his candidacy in the APC’s 2022 governorship primary in Plateau State and his role as the state coordinator for the Tinubu/Shettima campaign organisation in 2023, raises serious concerns about the potential politicisation of INEC.
‘This move fuels suspicions that INEC’s independence may be vulnerable to infiltration by political actors, casting doubt on the fairness of past and future elections’.
But APC’s Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim dismissed the fears of the opposition. He asked: ‘Is INEC a cult? Are political parties not engaging former INEC staff as advisers or consultants to work for them? There is nothing wrong with someone who worked somewhere before working for a political party.
‘Who says a retired coach cannot be an adviser to a team? Are we saying a retired police officer cannot work as a security consultant in another organisation’?
Ibrahim added that Prof Yilwatda’s emergence did not in any way confer undue advantage on the ruling party.
‘Our National Chairman was an ex-staff member of INEC, but he does not have access to any of the umpire’s facilities.
‘His knowledge of INEC can help the party (APC) to avoid anything that can be a disadvantage to it”, he said, even as he called on opposition parties to feel free to reach out to ex-staff to assist them in their day-to-day running of their activities.
