Only APC members are enjoying Buhari - Chris Ngige

The former Anambra  State Governor said people  complaining  of hardship  are PDP loyalists

AS a seasoned politician and professional medical doctor, Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment has established himself as a household name.

Although traumatised by the recent tragic death of the Minister of State, James Ocholi (SAN), the former governor of Anambra State speaks to Daily Sun in his office in Abuja on a wide range of issues, dwelling on the ragging issue of the senatorial rerun election in Anambra State.

While defending his decision to pull out of the re­run, Dr Ngige shockingly announced that he was not even prepared to contest the March 2015 senatorial election but did because he wanted to mobilise and garner support for President Muhammadu Buhari.

He equally commented on the controversial issue of the President Buhari government paying jobless Ni­gerians N5000 stipend, revealing how his ministry has categorised the programme into four segments.

Ocholi’s death

I want to describe the incident that happened to Ocholi and members of his family as a bad dream which will fade away. But I woke up the next day to realise that it has become a reality.

Having worked closely with him in the ministry, I cannot but say that I feel a very deep sense of loss. It was a loss aggravated by many situations that made us work together by various ways and in diferent parts.

We first worked together in the APC merger com­mittee where he represented the Congress for Progres­sives Change (CPC). It was a committee with many lawyers and SANs including him and the present At­torney-General of the federation. He was among those who made the committee very tick.

In fact, he was an engine room of the constitution drafting sub-committee. Some of us who are not law­yers but professionals in party administration march them wit for wit. It was a memorable experience work­ing with him in that committee.

He also graduated into the Interim Executive Com­mittee of APC as the Deputy Legal Adviser, a position he held for about nine months. During those assign­ments, he was on top of the situation. He was always at hand to handle every emergency situation by way of offering legal advice and solution in the absence of the substantive legal adviser.

We became closer from there having known him since his Law School days as a contemporary to my brother. I was, therefore, pleasantly surprised when Mr President announced him as my Minister of State for Labour and Employment.

Before the announcement, he thought that he was bound to Justice Ministry or any other ministry but not Labour. I felt that Mr President knew that Ocholi and I always engaged ourselves in intellectual discourse. Since we were united again in the ministry, I never had any hesitation in assigning duties to him because our relationship had become a roundabout, intertwined friendship.

He never shied away from taking up responsibilities and we were very free with each other. I am particularly worried about the two committees he was heading be­fore his death. They are very critical to the nation.

The committee of stakeholders in the oil and gas industry comprising PENGASSAN and NUPENG at one end as unions, the labour contractors at one end and the International Oil Corporations (IOCs) like Shell, Mobil, Agip and others at the other end with the Labour ministry as the facilitator

 

Source @ Sun