ABUJA, Nigeria — The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has said President Bola Tinubu instructed him to work closely with his predecessor, Abdullahi Ganduje, in the overall interest of the ruling party.
Yilwatda disclosed this on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, when Ganduje, who resigned as APC chairman in June, visited him in Abuja to offer condolences over the death of his mother.
“His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked me to work with you, to reach out to you as well about partnership,” Yilwatda said.
“I told him I would regard you still as chairman in partnership with me. You are still the co-chairman of the party. I am only a coordinator. My duty is simply to coordinate the membership of this party. But the party belongs to all of us. We are all collective leaders of the party.”
Yilwatda, appointed substantive chairman by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on Thursday, July 24, 2025, praised Ganduje’s long-standing political experience.
“By experience and by virtue of politics, you have been there long before me. Since the time of the NPN, you have been part of the political scene… So I need your experience. I need your guidance. The learning curve still rests with you. I will depend heavily on your experience, your connections, and your contacts to ensure we solidify this party and build it together, so that we can win more elections,” he said.
Ganduje, who stepped down on Friday, June 27, 2025, citing ill-health, said his relationship with Yilwatda set a positive precedent in Nigerian politics.
“One important thing is that the problem between successor and his predecessor is one of the issues that APC has solved,” he said.
He added that rivalries between predecessors and successors had long destabilised governance in many states since 1999.
“So our relationship is the beginning to solve that kind of problem. Not only in APC but in the whole atmosphere of democracy. I have to congratulate you for this new appointment,” he said.
