The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has revealed that he has been consulting widely for the 2023 presidential race, saying that he will make official declaration in April this year.
Dr. Ngige, former Governor of Anambra State, in an interaction on Channels television, declared that he is “seriously consulting” to run for the president in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). According to the Labour Minister, “I told my constituents that were urging me on last December that I will do some consultation and that I will speak to them in April, during Easter. So, I am doing my consultations.”
Ngige insisted that he is “qualified” to be the President of Nigeria. He distanced himself from the agitation for an Igbo president in 2023, saying he is not contesting on ethnic or regional qualification or sentiments.
Ngige had declared: “If I’m going to run, I won’t run because I’m Igbo.
“I will run as Chris Nwabueze Ngige, a Nigerian citizen, from the Southeast of Nigeria, precisely Anambra State, and from a local government called Idemilli South and a town called Alor.
“I am not going to wear a toga of Igbo President. I’m of Igbo extraction but very qualified to be President of Nigeria.”
The minister, however, said that he has not yet notified President Muhammadu Buhari of his presidential ambition.