REAL reasons why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Yakubu Jang as Senior Special Assistant in the office of the President, has emerged, amid political recalibration going in the North Central State of Plateau State.

Searches by TheGuardian showed that the President decided to raise a five-man team to serve as President Liaison in the state following his dissatisfaction with the political skills of the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda.

A closer ally of one of the five-man overseers disclosed that the team had briefed the President on the parlous state of the party in the state, which they said worsened after Yilwatda’s candidate, Yilcini Jambida, lost the APC gubernatorial ticket to incumbent Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang by 3, 070 to 233, 335 votes.

“After the governorship primary, Yilcini petitioned the President, alleging all manner of underhand schemes and financial inducements, to the chagrin of the party faithful. The contents of the petition in addition to the President’s poor perception of the national chairman’s handling of the national convention and party primaries made it is imperative that the five-man team of eminent politicians should be set up to ensure that APC gets the maximum votes in 2027.

“I can confidently tell you that it was this five-man team that recommended the appointment of the son of the former governor Jang. That was why the President directed the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, to announce the appointment during former Governor Jang’s 80th anniversary celebration.

“You know that the President is a masterful politician; he gave Yilwatda the impression that the appointment was in recognition of his contributions to the growth of the party, when in essence the entire process was choreographed as a loss of confidence in the national chairman’s political skills,” the source, a former federal director, stated.

Recall that Vice President Shettima announced the appointment of Jang as SSA in the Presidency last Saturday August 1, 2026; during the 80th birthday ceremony and book launch of Chief Jonah Jang at the Tamarald Event Centre, Jos.

It was gathered that the President remained pained about Prof Yilwatda’s handling of the APC National Assembly primaries, as well as the last-minute substitution of the immediate past Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, by the Progressive Governors.

The National Publicity Secretary of APC, Felix Morka, had dismissed suggestions about an impending reshuffle of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) after the national convention and party primaries, stressing that the party was upbeat about its preparedness for the re-election of President Tinubu

But, the attempt to stabilize the APC structure in Plateau State comes on the heels of serious intra-party crisis that broke out within the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) over the governorship ticket of the party in the state.

Although Da Jonathan Sunday Akuns was screened and cleared as the sole governorship contender for the NDC ticket, on the day of the affirmation primary, Akuns was handed a suspension letter at the venue.

The confusion spiraled following the decision by the NDC National Vice Chairman, North Central Zone, Engineer Barnabas Ejisi, to swiftly endorse the Plateau State chairman, Yakubu S. Ndam, as a placeholder pending the substitution window for the emergence of the substantive gubernatorial candidate.

Nonplussed as to why his name should be replaced with a placeholder, Akuns, who was acknowledged as the sole aspirant, reached out to the national leaders of the party, including Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, who pleaded for calm.

NDC stakeholders in Plateau and the North Central enjoined the national leaders, including the Presidential and Vice-Presidential standard bearers, Mr Peter Obi and Engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, to quench the fire of external interference in the candidate selection to avoid long drawn pre-election litigations.

Sources within the Plateau State chapter of NDC disclosed that Ejisi is insisting that a person of means should fly the party’s governorship flag, even as some stakeholders claim that a former state governor in the APC was stoking the crisis through the NVC.

The NVC, Ejisi, could not take calls to his GSM line, but the state chairman, Ndah, told TheGuardian that he was not aware that there was any other claimant to the governorship ticket, maintaining the he remains the placeholder until a competent candidate emerges from Plateau State Senatorial District.

However, on his part, Akuns said that as a true party man he has chosen the path of discipline, humility and level-headedness, stressing that it was an aberration that a person should be suspended from the party without previous or ongoing disciplinary procedure.

While some NDC faithful in Plateau State said they are patiently waiting to see how the national leadership of the party will resolve the artificial crisis, others claim that the attempt to displace a candidate with proven integrity, credibility, capacity and competence, is to pave way for the highest bidder.