An Anambra State governorship aspirant, Johnbosco Onunkwo, urged President Bola Tinubu and the APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, to reach out to former Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, along with other aggrieved party members. Onunkwo made the appeal at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja shortly after clearing the APC primary screening.
He emphasized that the party could not enter the November 8 governorship poll without a united front. When asked if Ngige still considered himself an APC member despite his long silence, Onunkwo confirmed that he did. He noted that Ngige’s presence at NEC caucus meetings is proof of his continued membership.
Onunkwo recalled that President Tinubu had previously directed the inauguration of a reconciliation committee during the last NEC meeting. He urged the committee to act quickly, stressing that many members who joined from AD, AC, ACN, and now the APC feel marginalized. According to Onunkwo, these members form the majority of the voting strength, and reuniting them is essential for electoral success.
Ngige had fallen out of favor with the party leadership after he failed to publicly endorse Tinubu during a live television interview in 2022. His hesitation on Politics Today, when asked to choose between Tinubu and Peter Obi of the Labour Party ahead of the 2023 elections, stirred controversy among his supporters. Along with a few other prominent figures like former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and ex-Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Ngige did not join Tinubu’s electioneering campaign.
Onunkwo’s call for reconciliation comes a week after Tinubu directed the APC leadership to address the grievances of aggrieved party members across all states ahead of the 2027 elections. During the last National Executive Committee meeting at the party secretariat in Abuja, Tinubu praised the national working committee and appealed for the establishment of state-level reconciliatory committees. He urged calm and promised that the party would continue to sustain progressive changes in the face of economic shocks experienced worldwide.
