“My choice will be in the ballot box. On the day of ballot I will make my choice. I won’t tell Nigerians what I will do secretly.”
These are the words of Labour and Productivity Minister, Chris Ngige, as he declined to declare he would vote for the All Progressives Congress’ presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, during a TV programme on Friday.
This has drawn strong words from a member of the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, who has asked Ngige to either endorse Tinubu or resign his appointment.
Some observers had earlier suspected that some top APC members are not committed to the Tinubu cause.
Among the suspected leaders are Ngige, former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi; and even the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who all contested but lost the primary election.
For Ngige, some have also feared that the way he is handling the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities is suspect.
They feared allowing the crisis to drag might be a way of fuelling bad bood againt the Tinubu candidacy.
On Saturday, Ajaka cautioned political appointees on the platform of the APC not to play hide and seek about their political standing, saying they either campaign publicly in support of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ticket or immediately resign their appointments from the party-led administration.
He 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.
“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.”
