An Anambra State governorship aspirant, Johnbosco Onunkwo, on Saturday urged President Bola Tinubu and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje to extend a hand of fellowship to a former Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, and other aggrieved members of the party.
Onunkwo made the appeal at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja shortly after ĥe scaled through the APC primary screening.
According to him, the party cannot afford to go into the November 8 governorship poll without a united front.
When asked if Ngige still considers himself an APC member after his long silence, Onunkwo nodded in the affirmative.
He said, “Ngige is still a full member of APC. If he’s not, we wouldn’t see him in the caucus meeting of our NEC. But he was there himself and not represented. If you remember, Mr President, in his wisdom at the last NEC, directed the inauguration of a reconciliation committee, which I believe must be preparing to start any moment.
“So, I will advise the committee to start in earnest because a lot is being expected. This is because a few members of this party, who started from AD, AC, to ACN and now the APC, are feeling marginalised. We need to bring them back.
“I can tell you that they constitute the majority of the voting strength. That’s why we need them to win elections. That’s when you see supporters who support our party but get nothing. These are the people I hope they will bring back. So we advise the reconciliation committee to move with speed to bring back aggrieved members.”
Ngige had fallen out of favour with the party leadership for failing to publicly endorse the then APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, when he appeared on a live television programme in 2022.
The ex-minister, who was a guest on Politics Today, a popular programme on Channels Television, hesitated when asked who he would vote for between Tinubu and his kinsman, Peter Obi of the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 elections.
The former Anambra State governor had dodged the question, saying he was no longer active in politics and would make his decision on election day.
Ngige’s statement caused a stir on social media and among his party supporters, who frowned at his utterance.
The erstwhile minister joined the ranks of a few chieftains, including former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who stayed away from Tinubu’s electioneering campaign.
Onunkwo’s plea on Saturday comes over a week after Tinubu directed the APC leadership to start working on reconciling all aggrieved members of the party in all the states ahead of the 2027 elections.
The President gave the directive at the last National Executive Committee meeting, which was held at the party secretariat in Abuja.
He said, “The national working committee is doing a good job and I am happy with them. In all the various states, let us set up reconciliatory committees to liaise with these aggrieved leaders. I am appealing to them, please be calm.
“Let the NEC find a way to celebrate our progressive ideals, and I promise you, our governors and Nigerians, that we will sustain these progressive changes. Everywhere in the world, especially in Europe, we have economic shocks, and we are doing everything possible.”
