With Mr Yilwatda's emergence, the governing APC has been led by seven national chairpersons in its 13 years of existence.
In 2025, the All Progressives Congress (APC) held a position of unrivalled dominance in Nigeria's political landscape, controlling the presidency, holding comfortable majorities in the National Assembly, and steadily expanding its reach at the subnational level.
The party's trajectory in 2025 was shaped by a mix of strategic endorsements, structural adjustments, consolidation of legislative dominance, and ongoing questions about the robustness of its institutional mechanisms.
The year marked a critical phase in the APC's evolution from an ad-hoc coalition that dislodged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 into a long-governing political establishment seeking to entrench itself.
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With President Bola Tinubu consolidating authority within both the government and the party, 2025 became less about electoral competition and more about managing succession narratives, silencing internal dissent, and aligning party structures with the presidency's priorities.
Key developments during the year, including the early adoption of Mr Tinubu as the party's sole presidential candidate for 2027, the exit of National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje and the emergence of Netanwe Yilwatda, repeated National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings, and continued defections from opposition parties, underscored the APC's strategy of consolidation over contestation.
At the same time, the party's failure to establish its National Advisory Council and address long-standing questions around internal checks and balances highlighted persistent structural gaps.
As economic pressures mounted nationwide and opposition parties struggled with internal crises, the APC used 2025 to strengthen its grip on power, often prioritising unity and control over internal debate. The decisions taken and avoided during the year are now shaping the contours of Nigeria's political competition ahead of 2027.
A firm endorsement for Tinubu as sole candidate
Perhaps the most politically consequential development of the year was the APC's endorsement of President Tinubu as its sole presidential candidate for the 2027 general election.
At a national summit mid-year in Abuja, party leaders and delegates moved a resolution to adopt Mr Tinubu as the party's only candidate for the 2027 election, effectively pre-empting any meaningful internal contest for the ticket.
The motion was moved by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma and seconded by Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani. The move was also endorsed by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who moved another motion, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, seconded it.
This was immediately backed by top APC governors, federal lawmakers and party executives who framed the move as a necessary show of unity and continuity of leadership.
This decision was later reinforced by regional chapters of the APC, signalling a deeply entrenched consensus in favour of continuity.
The adoption raised questions about the depth of internal consultation within the APC, the sidelining of potential rivals, and the shrinking space for intra-party competition, issues that will likely reverberate in party politics as 2027 approaches.
Leadership Transition: Ganduje's exit and Yilwatda's emergence
The year also brought a significant change in the party's leadership.
In June 2025, Abdullahi Ganduje resigned as APC National Chairman, citing health reasons. Mr Ganduje's two-year tenure had been marked by controversy, legal tussles and tensions within party structures, including court challenges to his leadership and allegations of financial impropriety during internal party processes.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the former two-term Kano State governor's exit came after pressure from influential party figures who believed a leadership reconfiguration was necessary as the party shifted focus to its next electoral cycle.
Party officials concluded that with Mr Tinubu entering the second half of his tenure and preparations for the 2027 election cycle already underway, the ruling party needed to realign its leadership.
Mr Ganduje told the officials that although he appreciated their concerns, he would first seek Mr Tinubu's position on the demand before taking any action.
However, after failing to secure an audience with the president, the embattled party leader submitted his resignation letter to the APC National Secretary, Ajibola Basiru.
Following Mr Ganduje's resignation, Ali Dalori, the party's deputy national chairman (North), was directed to act as interim leader until the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) could convene a meeting to select a substantive national chairman.
On 24 July 2025, the APC National Executive Committee ratified the emergence of Nentawe Yilwatda, then minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, as the new national chairman. Mr Yilwatda's elevation was reported as a consensus decision by the NEC and a broader party leadership group led by Mr Tinubu and state governors.
Mr Yilwatda's profile, blending technocratic experience and political acumen, was presented by party sources as suited to the demands of both organisational stability and electoral strategy in the lead-up to 2027.
With his emergence, Mr Yilwatda became the seventh APC national chairman in the party's 13 years of existence. The former leaders are Bisi Akande (interim), John Odigie-Oyegun, Adams Oshiomhole, Mala Buni (caretaker), Abdullahi Adamu and Mr Ganduje.
NEC meetings and internal strategy sessions
The APC's governing bodies met repeatedly in 2025 as part of efforts to realign internally.
The party convened at least two National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings: one held in July, during which the Yilwatda leadership was approved, and another in December at the Presidential Villa, to address broader strategic questions and prepare for the party's national congresses and campaigns.
Notably, the early NEC meeting held in July was a key forum for formalising Mr Yilwatda's leadership and endorsing organisational directives ahead of the party's formal convention plans.
APC also held caucus and NEC meetings later in the year to handle unresolved disputes, internal disciplinary matters, and electoral strategy guidance.
Advisory Council still absent
An enduring institutional issue for the APC in 2025 was the continued absence of a functional body to perform advisory and conciliatory roles placed on the National Advisory Council, which replaced the Board of Trustees (BoT).
Unlike the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has a formal BoT enshrined in its constitution, the APC has never institutionalised a functioning BoT, a body traditionally expected to provide custodial oversight, ideological steering and conflict mediation.
In the PDP, for example, the BoT comprises dozens of veteran party members and former officeholders who provide institutional memory and guidance to party leadership, with a chaired structure that is recognised under the party's constitutional framework.
The APC constitution was amended in 2022 to replace the BoT with a National Advisory Council (NAC), following years of debate over the relevance and composition of the trusteeship model. Under the amended constitution, the NAC is recognised as a statutory organ of the party, expected to provide moral guidance, institutional memory and mediation in times of internal crisis.
However, despite this constitutional provision, the APC had not constituted or inaugurated the NAC as of the end of 2025.
No official list of NAC members has been published, no inaugural meeting has been held, and the party leadership has made no public announcement on its activation.
This gap arguably weakens the party's capacity to mediate internal disputes and preserve institutional memory during leadership transitions.
Defections, expansion
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Throughout 2025, the APC continued to benefit from a wave of high-profile defections from opposition parties, further consolidating its dominance in both the National Assembly and several state houses of assembly.
PREMIUM TIMES reported multiple defections into the APC from other parties, including members of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) who formally joined the ruling party in legislative chambers.
As of today, the ruling party maintains a comfortable majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Consequently, it can pass laws without the votes of the opposition parties.
During the year, six state governors joined the APC. They are Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Umoh Eno (Akwa Ibom), Peter Mbah (Enugu), Douye Diri (Bayelsa) and Agbu Kefas (Taraba), all former members of the PDP.
Mr Yilwatda also announced during the last NEC meeting of the APC that his state governor, Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), had also joined the ruling party from the PDP. Mr Mutfwang was formally registered as an APC member on Friday.
Meanwhile, there are also reports that Governor Kabiru Yusuf of Kano State is warming up to dump NNPP for the APC, currently controlling about 29 of Nigeria's 36 states as a result of the gale of defections.
Party leaders often framed these defections as evidence of growing national acceptance of the APC's agenda and disillusionment with opposition politics.
Preparing for party congresses and the 2026 convention
While 2025 was not the year for a national convention, it was pivotal in setting the stage for party reorganisation with the APC issuing detailed schedules for nationwide ward, local government and state congresses, culminating in a national convention planned for March 2026.
This timetable spells out the phased process of internal elections and delegate selections that will determine the APC's leadership nucleus ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle.
The careful sequencing of these activities reflected the party's priority on institutionalising grassroots structures and restoring regular internal democratic processes.
