Adeleye Kunle Reports
Murtala Ajaka, deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has berated Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, for his recent comment on the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Ngige had, in a TV interview, declined to answer when he was asked whether he would endorse Tinubu or back Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
The labour minister described the question as “difficult”, saying both of them are his friends and his “choice will be in the ballot box.”
Ajaka said Ngige should resign if he cannot support the APC presidential flagbearer, Tinubu.
In a statement released on Saturday, October 8, Ajaka said the APC presidential primary election had long ended, and the party had settled for Tinubu, TheCable reported. He said all the party leaders should put their ambitions behind them to deliver the party’s presidential ticket in 2023.
His words: “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.
“Chief Ngige and other APC appointees, especially in the federal cabinet should not forget in a hurry that they are holding onto 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.”
