The Taunting And Rascality Of Chris Ngige Over Corruption Hearing Is Unethical And Unexecutive – Ohikere
The Former Commissioner of Information of Kogi state and stakeholder of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr. Tom Ohikere has expressed his disappointment over the acts of incivility displayed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige during the corruption hearing at ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives trivializing an important hearing that involves corruption.
Earlier the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige appeared before an ad hoc committee of the House of Representatives, over the sack of the management of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
It would be recalled that the House recently resolved to investigate the circumstances behind the sacking of the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Adebayo Somefun.
And during the debate on the motion, the Chairman of House Committee on Finance made some accusations against Ngige, hence the House resolved to summon the Minister.
The committee is chaired by Miriam Onouha.
Hon Abiodun James Faleke, who is the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance represents Ikeja, Lagos constituency in the House and is an ally of former Lagos Governor and APC chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
While interrogating the Minister during the House committee investigative hearing, Ngige made it clear to Faleke that he was becoming quite uncomfortable with some of his grilling and choice of words and began to taunt, turning the constitutional oversight function of the national assembly to a joke, instead of been focused on the subject matter, he shamelessly turned it to joke and a show of shame, its disappointing that some of the ministers surrounding President Muhammadu Buhari are not helping the President in the fight against corruption but instead they proud themselves in it trying every possible ways to ridicule the president’s stride on the fight against corruption.
PMB does not deserve these kind of men in the federal executive council. Ngige appears unexecutive and more of a joker than a cabinet minister. If Mr. President needs to be taken serious by citizens, especially on his fight against corruption, he should rejig his cabinet to accommodate only leaders with high level of integrity, good characters and sense of responsibility.
Ngige whose 2003 Anambra governorship election victory was voided in 2005 and 2006 by the courts and his subsequent attempts to become Governor of Anambra in 2007 and 2010 ended in defeats as well.
Even though Ngige won the 2011 Anambra Central senatorial election on the ACN platform, he was beaten by Hon. Mrs Uche Ekwunife in 2015 as he sought to make a return to the national assembly.
Chris Ngige has lost a lot of his electoral battles and so shouldn’t compare himself with Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress APC who had distinguished himself politically, socially and economically but should focus on vindicating himself of the corruption he is been accused of.
Leadership grooming has been found as the forte of great leaders and statesmen. The prosperity of Tinubu’s idea is his eye for excellence with which he recruits future leaders.
Ngige has failed to recognise how Tinubu has over the years blended a crop of new leaders who have turned out to become change-agents and drivers in both Lagos State, Nigeria and the world at large. He has allowed his charisma to infect many young people, thereby enhancing the fructification of his ideas in politics and the professions.
Ngige only mentored Okija Shrine, hence comparing himself with Asiwaju Tinubu is the height of hallucination. He thinks displaying rings round his ten fingers makes him an uncommon Leader?.
Ngige should check history well before he make utterances, Tinubu emerged the only surviving governor from the platform of Alliance of Democracy (AD), which produced the entire governors of the Southwest geopolitical zone and the expertise he displayed in raising the state’s internally generated revenue to withstand the induced fiscal straightjacket imposed on the state government as punishment for creating an additional 37 Local Government Council Development Centres stands him out from any match.
Strengthened by that epic political battle, Asiwaju earned his stripes as the Jagaban Borgu and went ahead to do exploits, winning one strategic engagement after another. Through his foresight, three states in the Southwest were recovered into the progressive fold, including Ekiti, Ondo and Osun. What antecedent does Ngige has to compare himself with Asiwaju.
Chris Ngige is just but a political misfit who only enjoys the ministerial position with impunity without bringing any positive change to table ever since he assumed office as the minister of labour and Employment and should be replaced with a better option.