Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC) and the party’s deputy national publicity secretary, has criticized Dr. Chris Ngige, the minister of labor and employment, over remarks he made in a television interview.
Ngige declined to publicly state who he would support as president in the 2023 elections when asked on Friday night during an interview appearance on Channels Television if he would vote for his friend, Peter Obi, the candidate for the Labour Party (LP), or Bola Tinubu, the flagbearer for his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He stated that he will make his decision at the polls and that he is not required to officially declare his vote.
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Ngige declared: “Both of them are my friends. My choice will be in the ballot box. It is a secret ballot. I shouldn’t tell Nigerians what I would do secretly.”
Ajaka warned political appointees on the APC platform not to play hide-and-seek about their political position after becoming enraged by the Minister’s reaction.
The NWC member criticized Ngige’s remark as “uncalled for” and suggested that appointees either officially endorse Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s candidacy or immediately resign from the party-led administration.
He said; “presidential primary election had long ended and the party had settled for the choice of Senator Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, hence all the party leaders should put their ambitions behind them for now to deliver the party’s presidential ticket.
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“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 enthroment 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.”
He stated that such comments by members of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is capable of generating bad blood among the rank and file of the ruling party.
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“With this type of public comments from a sitting minister in a ruling party who cannot declare on national television his choice of presidential candidate, how on earth is the party expected to fare in the forthcoming presidential election?” he asked.
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