Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige has made shocking revelations.
He said; “I was a foundation member of PDP and when we formed the PDP, it was agreed that the presidency should go to the South. Somebody like Abubakar Rimi of blessed memory said no, that he must contest.”
“I remember Chief Audu Ogbeh, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Chief Solomon Lar and others, taking Rimi to a corner of the room in Professor Jerry Gana’s house but Rimi still insisted on running.”
“Sunday Awoniyi who we all loved, started crying. Awoniyi burst into tears, saying this was not what the founding fathers of Nigeria wanted. We were new politicians then. I and Prof. ABC Nwosu carried Alex Ekwueme’s bag to the meeting. So, we were living witnesses to this.”
“I am also a living witness to the fact that because of that, Abubakar Rimi went and filed expression of interest and was disqualified.”
“He came to Jos and insisted on running but before the casting of votes, he went round the field to announce his withdrawal from the race and the turf was left for Ekwueme who relinquished the chairmanship of the steering committee of PDP to vie for the Presidency.”
“Solomon Lar, a Northerner was permitted to take over the chairmanship of the PDP because all the presidential aspirants were from the South. They include Ekwueme, Obasanjo, Nwobodo, Gamaliel Onosode and the former Minister of Labour under Babangida.”
“And in our neighbouring APP, everyone collapsed for a Southern candidate. We had Ogbonnaya Onu. We had Olu Falae. We had the billionaire from Ibadan, Chief Harry Akande. They all slugged it out there.”
“Shinkafi and others stepped down. So, it is not novel in Nigerian political history that you rotate or shift power. It is done to make for stability, unity, equity and progress of the country.”
“If anybody, coming to 2023, says that there is no rotation or zoning that person is being economical with the truth.”
“We started the discussion even before I went to Senate. We started the discussion for the formation of APC between ACN and CPC. After the election, ANPP joined us. Then, I now brought APGA with Okorocha. Some people falsified issues to say that Okorocha brought APC to the South-East. It is not true.”
“I and Ogbonnaya Onu were the fathers of APC in the South-East. I specifically brought in Okorocha, Annie Okonkwo and Osita Izunaso. They are the three leading people we brought into the formation committee.”
“I introduced them during the first meeting at Tom Ikimi’s house as APGA faction, with Ikimi presiding. So, there is nothing there that will be told me as a story.”
“After formation, we put in a 32-man Interim Management Committee, serving like they are all working committee members. They were drawn from ACN; we were the senior partners coming with six governors.”
“ANPP had three governors, CPC with one governor, APGA with one governor and then, DPP with one Senator and some House of Representatives members. I was the secretary at our first convention and I took all the minutes.”
“We had an agreement that our standard-bearer was coming from the North and after North, it would come down to the South. So, those who are talking today were not there when this agreement was made. Was it written down and signed by politicians from both sides, no. But we had minutes of the meeting. They are there. It was agreed that it would be a movement between North and South.”
“As we were doing the convention, we narrowed down our candidates to about two or three. But among the candidates, General Buhari was ahead. All of us from the ACN caucus had agreed that he was our candidate. CPC had agreed that he would be their candidate. ANPP was split into two. So, when we went to the presidential convention, he emerged with a wide margin. That is the truth of the matter.”
– Source: Vanguardngr