Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Why Igbo should vote Buhari, by Chris Ngige

By Dom Ekpunobi, Onitsha
02 January 2019   |   4:08 am
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said that the surest and fastest way of the presidency going to the South East is by voting in President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office.

[FILE] Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said that the surest and fastest way of the presidency going to the South East is by voting in President Muhammadu Buhari for a second term in office.

Speaking in Awka in a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme, the former governor of Anambra State dismissed the Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi ticket as incapable of winning the presidential election and therefore not the best option for the Igbo nation.

He described the position of the vice president as a spare tyre, which lacks the capacity to function effectively unless directed by the president.

According to him, Obi’s lobby of Ndigbo to vote for him and Atiku is a deceit, because even if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wins the presidential election, Obi will not have any power to influence the policy in their favour unless approved by the president.

He explained that the Nigerian constitution allowed Buhari two terms of office only, after which the presidency would rotate to the south and probably to the South East.

If Atiku wins, he would eventually run for a second tenure of another four years, thereby prolonging the time for a president of Igbo extraction, he added.

Allaying the fears of the Igbo that they were hated by Buhari, Ngige said that the president had continued to treat the Igbo with love and fairness.

The labour minister challenged the PDP and its presidential candidate to tell Nigerians the area and magnitude of restructuring they want to effect, instead of using the term to deceive the people.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), according to him, is not averse to restructuring, but would not want to engage in it hastily, so that all the nitty-gritty would be addressed, as there were various areas of restructuring such as economic, geo-political and revenue.

He advised the Igbo to be very careful and know what is best for them, so that they would not waste the opportunity offered by the 2019 presidential election.

0 Comments