•Says Atiku, Obi, Tinubu, Kwankwaso good for presidency job
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige has tackled former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for criticising the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in his controversial New Year letter to Nigerians.
The minister said the current economic problems and hardship was a global phenomenon and not restricted to Nigeria to warrant such attacks.
The former Anambra State Governor also restated his decision not to campaign for any presidential candidate in the forthcoming general elections, describing the four frontrunners for the presidency as good candidates who have the requisite cognate experience in government business at state and federal levels.
In a statement by his Media Office in Abuja, yesterday, Ngige was quoted to have made the comments at his hometown, Alor, Idemili South local government area, Anambra State, while sharing Christmas largesse to members of the All Progressive Congress(APC), the indigent, widows and aged persons.
Addressing the crowd at St. Mary’s Church Pavilion Alor, Ngige said Buhari had requested ministers to go home and assist their people since last September having realised the hardship in the land.
According to him, the current government should not be blamed much for the hardship in the country because the situation was not restricted to Nigeria alone, but all over the world.
He explained that the country’s neighbours – Ghana, Cote d’ivoire and South Africa – were not insulated, ditto the United Kingdom and other developed economies of Europe and America, from the global economic challenges.
He therefore urged Nigerians to disregard politicians who would come campaigning and telling them that the Buhari government caused the hardship they were passing through.
He said, “I am part of this government and when I start talking, people will say that ‘he will defend the government because he is part of it’. Yes, I must defend the government because I’m inside and I know the hard work put in to ameliorate this hardship we are seeing.
“It is also world over as the cost of living is up and there is low and middle class agitations everywhere, especially among the working class. It is not only in Nigeria.
“So, don’t mind those politicians who will come and say that the Buhari government inflicted hardship and poverty on you. One of them wrote a letter the other day, the habitual national letter writer. He said Buhari brought Nigeria below 1999 level. How can somebody say that? The same person ruled from 1999 to 2007.”
The former Anambra State Governor added: “What did he do to change here to Eldorado when he was in charge? It is easy to criticise. It is easy for spectators in the field of play to say they would have scored a goal if they were in the field of play.
“As a spectator, when the ball is in the penalty box, you move your legs as if you are the one playing. But, when they throw you inside there, you discover that the game is man to man. It is 90 minutes of man versus man. It is no longer a question of talking or clapping from the sideline.
“So, when politicians, especially our elder statesmen do this kind of write up, you start asking yourself whether they want our country to remain in peace or be torn to pieces. I don’t like it. Chief Obasanjo is somebody I respect(and who we should all respect) a lot, but after reading his letter twice, I took exception to that aspect, criticising a government trying to finish very well and strong, working assiduously. It is not good.”
Speaking further, Ngige decried the claim by Obasanjo that Nigeria today has been dragged well below Nigeria of the beginning of his presidency in 1999.
He recalled that while serving as the Governor of Anambra State, same Obasanjo who was then president, said he was going to construct the Second Niger Bridge and even sent the late Chairman of Gitto Lodziani to meet him and his Delta counterpart with proposals including that the two states will bear the cost of construction, but ultimately failed to do so, owing to lack of commitment.
Ngige continued, “After they drove me away from the governorship position, he (Obasanjo) took the then Delta State Governor, James Ibori, Emmanuel Uduaghan who was taking over from Ibori, then Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and Andy Uba, his anointed successor for Obi in 2007, to turn the sod of the Second Niger Bridge. This happened during the PDP Presidential campaign in 2007, and yet, they didn’t do the bridge. Successive Federal governments didn’t do it.
“I was the one who brought Buhari to South East people in 2015. While we were laying out our campaign manifesto, as the South East Zonal Coordinator, I told General that the bridge is very important to our people and the entire South up to North Central.The General asked if we can do it and I said, ‘why not?’ Same question he asked at the Ziks Mausoleum completion and he told me and late Chuma Azikiwe that if God made him President, he will construct the Bridge and complete the abandoned Mausoleum for our people.”
Quoting the Igbo adage that, “Smearing the reputation of a wealthy man is worse than killing him,” Ngige warned that Buhari should be left alone and not be blamed for everything that that has gone awry under the sun.
He said the government was working very hard to finish strong and needed the support of all Nigerians at this dying minutes of its administration.
He noted that some of the candidates in the coming elections were his friends, adding that he would support them all.
Ngige enjoined all Nigerians to go and get their PVCs in order to vote, assuring that they were going to look at faces before voting.
He advised Nigerians to vote for the right candidate who should be able to work for them after a critical evaluation of their manifestos and antecedents.
Regarding his choice of presidential candidate, he said, “the four frontrunners are good candidates with cognate experience in governance at the federal and state levels.
“They are my friends and they are well known to me. They have worked with me in one way or the other before now.”
