TheCable

Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, says he will not disclose his preferred presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.

Ngige said this on Friday while featuring on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.

When asked whether he would endorse Bola Tinubu, his party’s presidential candidate, or back Peter Obi, the flagbearer of the Labour Party, Ngige described the question as “difficult”.

“I have told you that I’m not active in politics,” he said.

“I’m not active in politics for now because I am facing a national assignment.

“Both of them are my friends. My choice will be in the ballot box. Whether conscience or no conscience, on that day in February, I’ll have one vote.”

The minister added that “it is a secret ballot, and I shouldn’t tell Nigerians what I would do secretly”.

“Both men and their track records are good, but you must go into the nitty-gritty of your analysis,” he said.

“Asiwaju Bola Tinubu came to Lagos when there was nothing. I lived in Lagos so I can tell you. He did what he was supposed to do and reformed the financial system, and built a solid foundation and roadmap for his successors.”

Ngige said Obi built on the foundation he laid as governor of Anambra state.

“For the first tenure, he did not do infrastructure, but then he realised that it was a grievous mistake,” he said.

When asked to rate whether Tinubu performed better than Obi, the minister declined.

Obi was the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2003 Anambra governorship election, but he lost to Ngige who was the PDP candidate.

Obi had challenged the outcome of the polls and after nearly three years of litigation, Ngige’s victory was overturned by the court of appeal on March 15, 2006.