The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has warned the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, that if he does not inaugurate the board members of federal agencies and parastatal under his ministry, he will be suspended by the party.
“If the minister refuses we will suspend him from the party, the chairman said.
” You know we must return to internal discipline. For me it is the height of mischief for any minister, you cannot purport to be honourable minister and you act dishonourably and nobody is greater than the party. And if the President condones disrespect for his office, I will not condone disrespect for the party. And when we expel the minister we will prevail on the president that he can’t keep in his cabinet people who have neither respect for his own decisions nor have respect for the party without which they would not have been ministers. There are no independent candidate in our system, nobody, I emphasis no minister is above the party and they have taken undue advantage of the president’s fatherly disposition.
Reacting to Ngige’s response to his direction, Oshiuomhole, after a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, said that rebels will not be tolerated either in a party or in a democratic government.
He said the APC under his leadership will not continue to tolerate ministers who abuse their office and disrespect President Muhammadu Buhari by refusing to carry out his directives.
He dared Ngige not to comply within the stipulated time and see if he will not be suspended and thereafter, sacked from the federal cabinet.
Ngige had faulted Oshiomhole, on the constitution and inauguration of the board members of federal agencies and parastatal under his ministry.
The APC chairman, in a letter, had given the labour minister one week within which to constitute the board of the parastatals and agencies under his ministry.
The parastatals and agencies are the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Productivity Centre (NPC), and Michael Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS).
But, Ngige, in his reply, explained why he would not constitute the Board of NSITF within the one week ultimatum given by Oshiuomhole. He expressed disbelief that such a letter could emanate from the APC chairman. He said: “Our National Chairman, I am in receipt of a letter referenced APC/NHDQ/ GEN-S/28/018/003 dated July 11, 2018, which was sent from your office and received by me on July 12, 2018. Ordinarily, I would not believe the letter was from you except for the barrage of media statements that came before I saw the letter. I read the contents of this letter with both amazement and utter disbelief.”
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