2023: As Expected, Ngige Drops Out Of Presidential Race

By Adesina Soyooye

“For Dr Ngige, a bird in hand is better than a million birds in the bush, especially, as in his own case, there were no birds at all in the bush”

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, has done the obvious and the expected. He has dropped out of the Presidential race.

Only a few people, perhaps, believed Ngige when he declared interest to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Most people felt he was joking. They did not take him seriously. They felt he has no reach. And even though he has been a Minister since 2015, they still felt he had no name recognition.

Some people expressed doubt that he even took himself seriously for the race. Since his declaration of interest, nothing much was heard of his campaign.

Nobody heard that he had gone to anywhere to woo delegates, even in his own Anambra State. He was just there.

Nobody could confirm whether he purchased the nomination form or not. Perhaps, they said, he bought the Expression of interest form, only, for N30m. Still big money.

Ngige, they said, thought he could stay on in office and still say he was a Presidential aspirant. But the President pulled the rug from under his feet.

On Wednesday, he asked all his appointees, interested in elective positions in 2023 to resign from office on, or before, May 16, 2022. Most of them did. They resigned. But not Ngige.

Asked about it, he said he needed to consult with the President and his Constituency before resigning. That’s when many suspected he would go nowhere. A bird in hand is better than a million in the bush, especially, as in Ngige’s case, there was no single bird in the bush.

On Friday, May 13, Ngige finally did the long expected.

He withdrew from the Presidential race.

The obvious reason: He decided to withdraw, he said,  after consulting with the President, his family and his Constituency. “He obviously knows where his bread is buttered”, one cheeky fellow quipped. Another said the President did not help matters when he said he would replace the departing Ministers quickly.

Luckily for Dr Ngige, Mr President has not yet declared his Ministerial office vacant.

One request from Nigerians though: Minister of Labour,  resolve the ASUU issue fast so University students can go back to their schools. Fair enough.