ANAMBRA 2017 | Ngige's body language scatters APC Gladiators
Members of the rul­ing All Progres­sives Congress (APC) are unsettled over plans by Minister of La­bour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige to fly the par­ty’s flag in the Anambra State governorship election slated for November 2017.

Among those who have so far indicated interest in the party’s ticket are rank­ing senator, Andy Uba, Na­tional Auditor of the party, Chief George Moghalu, and a member of the House of Representatives, Hon Tony Nwoye.

The APC nation­al officers are worried that Ngige, who has denied gun­ning for the position, may be secretly mobilizing to con­test in the party’s upcom­ing governorship primary election.

Said an officer, “Yes, Dr Ngige has constantly maintained that he’s not interested in returning to Anambra Government House, but the situation on ground suggests otherwise.

“We’ve heard stories of Ngige holding several polit­ical meetings with heads of the clergy, market and town unions, and how he has been distributing gifts to them, and Ngige certainly is not a philan­thropist,” noted the party of­ficer.

According to another of­ficial of the party, Anambra APC is worried by the alleged plans by Ngige to renege on an earlier promise not to contest for the governorship.

He said the APC was the more worried that Ngige’s al­leged governorship ambition may weaken the APC’s chanc­es in the forthcoming election where Governor Willie Obi­ano of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) is the in­cumbent.

He noted, “We all know how difficult it is to run against an incumbent. We also know that the APC is gradu­ally making inroads into the South-east, and this is the lit­mus test for the party’s popu­larity and acceptance.

“Should we go into the election with a divided house, the consequences will be too dire. Ngige has a reputation for not honouring agreements. One can only hope that this is all speculation,” he offered.

An APC chieftain from Anambra Central District ad­vised the party to select what he described as a very market­able candidate.

He remarked, ”We all know Ngige came third in the last governorship election. We also know the late Prof Dora Akunyili almost embarrassed Ngige at the 2011 Anambra central senatorial election. So this isn’t a time for trial and er­ror. We should be able to pre­sent a very formidable candi­date.”

Although we were unable to reach Ngige for com­ments. However, a political as­sociate of his maintained that it was the minister’s right to contest any election he so de­sired, saying Ngige never en­tered into any agreement not to contest the governorship election.

“Those claiming Onwa (Ngige) pledged not to con­test the governorship elec­tion should provide proof. He worked hard for the party and, as a leader, deserves to be ac­corded the right of first refus­al. After all, his governorship was aborted in 2006 by the Ap­peal Court.

“We are consulting wide­ly. What is standing in our way is Mr President’s ill health. We pray he gets well soon so we can get his nod to contest. Once given the ticket, Onwa will become the next gover­nor of Anambra State,” he de­clared.