PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will lead other party bigwigs to today’s crucial National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa at 2:00pm
News Point Nigeria reports that the NEC meeting is expected to tackle key issues including the appointment of a new National Chairman, with top contenders being Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and Senator Tanko Al-Makura, a former governor of Nasarawa State.
This NEC session will be the first major party gathering since the death of former President Muhammadu Buhari. According to a source, a brief tribute session has been scheduled in his honour.
Other major agenda items include ratification of the schedule for party congresses, review of the e-registration process, and final resolution on the party chairmanship, following the resignation of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje earlier this month.
The reliable party source told News Point Nigeria that Nentawe Yilwatda, from Plateau State (North Central), is the front-runner to replace Ganduje.
This would mark a return of the chairmanship to the North Central, where it was originally zoned before the controversial shift that installed Ganduje from Kano.
Al-Makura remains a fallback option, while other earlier speculated names like Senator Sani Musa, George Akume, and Senator Abu Ibrahim appear to have lost traction.
The push to zone the chairmanship back to North Central is part of the party’s strategy to balance political representation, especially under the Muslim-Muslim leadership of Tinubu and Shettima.
Appointing a Christian chairman from North Central is seen as a placating gesture to disgruntled factions.
In a break from tradition, the party will not hold its usual National Caucus meeting before the NEC.
Instead, some caucus members have been invited to participate in the expanded NEC, due to what sources described as “logistics constraints.”
Ali Bukar Dalori, the current acting chairman, is expected to vacate the position once the NEC confirms a substantive leader.
Dalori, who hails from Borno State, shares the same state of origin as Vice President Shettima, a factor reportedly working against his continued stay in the role.
“The President wants the issue of chairmanship resolved once and for all,” a top party source told this newspaper.
“He wants someone who will be as loyal to him as Adamu was to Buhari.”
According to the APC Constitution, NEC membership includes:
The President and Vice President (if party members)
National Chairman and top NWC officials
State Governors who are party members
Leadership of the National Assembly
Zonal officers and state chairmen
Representatives of both chambers of the legislature
BOT and other ex-officio members
The Caucus, typically smaller, includes former presidents and vice presidents, past national officers, and select appointees.