Nigeria, Jan. 5 -- 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 constitution...