2023 Polls: Openly Support Tinubu Or Resign – APC Thrashes Ngige

• Minister courts trouble over Peter Obi’s remarks

BY EDMOND ODOK – For his non-committal stand on the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has ran into trouble with the ruling party.

And angered by the Minister’s refusal to openly endorse Tinubu and canvass support for him ahead of the elections, the party has urged him to immediately resign from office to avoid any embarrassment.

According to the APC’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Murtala Ajaka, the Minister and all other political appointees must demonstrate loyalty and show gratitude to the party by openly supporting Tinubu, warning that anything to the contrary would smack of betrayal and anti-party activities.

Ajaka, who was reacting to Ngige’s comments when asked who he will endorse between Tinubu and the Labour Party (LP), presidential candidate, Peter Obi, described the Minister’s position as most unfortunate given how much he has benefited and is still benefiting from the ruling party.

While featuring on the Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’, Ngige admitted that said the decision on who to support between Tinubu and Obi is difficult.

Berating the Minister for his remarks, Ajaka said; “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 other party leaders laboured to ensure the enthronement of the same government in 2015 which they are now serving in.”

In a statement issued at the weekend, the APC Deputy National Publicity Scribe said; “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.

“With this type of public comment from a sitting minister in a ruling party who cannot declare on national television his choice of a presidential candidate, how on earth is the party expected to fare in the forthcoming presidential election?”