Chris Ngige


When Mr Ngige appeared on Politics Today on Channels TV, he was asked about his choice between Mr Tinubu and the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, is not known for holding back his tongue. But on Friday, he craftily avoided endorsing the presidential candidate of his party, Bola Tinubu.

Mr Ngige had  interest in the presidential ticket of the ruling party by picking the N100 million nomination and expression of interest forms but pulled out after President Muhammadu Buhari directed his appointees who were aspirants to resign in line with section 84(12) of the electoral act.

When Mr Ngige appeared on Politics Today on Channels TV, he was asked about his choice between Mr Tinubu and the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.

The minister refused to give a straight answer.

“I am not active in politics. When I withdrew from the presidential race, I said I was going to face my work. The work is multifaceted and multifarious as I came back.

“I am not in the campaign council and I don’t want to be. I am doing a national job which is more important than any campaign council. The Vice President and the SGF are not there,” he said.

Initially, it appeared as though Mr Ngige was torn between supporting the candidate of his party, Mr Tinubu and his kinsman, Mr Obi.

Or perhaps he was scared of facing the backlash that South-east politicians who endorsed anyone other than Mr Obi have faced.

It would be recalled that Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, are some of the recent politicians who have had to recant their statements for daring to speak against the former Anambra State governor.

owever, in the course of the interview, Mr Ngige later dropped the ball that his sitting on the fence has to do with the crisis in his party. He even picked holes in the track record of the man who succeeded him.

“The way the parties have problems, especially the big parties — PDP has problem that is two times more than our own. Disagreement over the list and that, if we get our acts together, my party will sweep the poll,” he stated.

Mr Ngige’s‘ non-committal approach got a rebuttal from the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Murtala Ajaka, who in a statement on Saturday, asked Mr Ngige and other ministers who are not ready to endorse Mr Tinubu to resign.

“It is expected of a serving minister in an APC government to be a trusted Apostle of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency in 2023, who along with other party leaders laboured to ensure the enthronement of the same government in 2015 which they are now serving in.

“Chief Ngige and other APC appointees, especially in the federal cabinet, should not forget in a hurry that they are holding onto the party’s mandate, hence the need to protect it with whatever it requires. But if they can no longer protect the interest of the APC in public and that of our presidential candidate (Tinubu), I think the honourable thing to do is to step aside from the government formed by the APC,” Mr Ajaka had said.

Mr Ngige is the latest in the list of appointees that have for one reason or another stayed away from the campaign. There is the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

Although the explanation for their non-inclusion in the campaign council is “focusing on governance”, many believe that their decision may be connected with the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the party.

For Mr Ngige, there is the issue of South-east agitation for the presidency, which he invoked repeatedly during his short-lived presidential aspiration.

“If we want to be our brother’s keeper and bury the pains of the civil war and the impression that a certain group of people is not wanted in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our brothers from other zones should concede that position to the Southeast in 2023,” stated this in May while speaking with journalists in Lagos.

As it stands, even Mr Tinubu is not sure of Mr Ngige’s vote on election day, as he refused to disclose who he will be voting for.

“You like to box people into a corner. I have told you, I am not active. Why are you asking me a difficult question? My choice will be in the ballot box. Conscience or no conscience, forget it. In February I will cast my one vote,” he said.

All these show that even though the crisis in the PDP is open and loud, the APC may be facing the silent type.



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