By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, has called on warring members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Anambra State chapter, to sheath their swords, promising that leaders of the party will meet to proffer a solution to the ongoing crisis.

Ngige, who is the leader of the party in the state, in a statement from his media handlers advised the embattled acting state chairman of the party, Basil Ejidike, not to “invent a Trojan Horse but look inwards and manage the self-inflicted tear in the State Exco and Working Committee of the party.”

Ejidike had accused some members of the party loyal to Ngige and the Managing Director of Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Chief George Moghalu, of being behind his suspension calls and other crisis rocking the party in the state.

The acting state chairman also called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Working Committee, headed by Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, to urgently intervene.

The statement from Ngige’s Media Office reads: “The Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has been inundated with calls from his home state, over the unfortunate development in the State Chapter of our great party, APC, culminating in the suspension of the Acting State Chairman.

“All these are the fallout of the 26th June 2021 heist in which though no primary election held, the Acting Chairman in concert with some persons who did not wish our state chapter well, announced some allocated, fictitious figures for each of the 13 aspirants and declared a winner.

“The situation simmered, festered and resulted in the loss of the governorship election. The Honourable Minister had watched these developments with disbelief and consternation because this is not the style of the original APC members in Anambra State over the years!

“Nigerians are aware of the unceasing post-COVID-19 efforts of the Federal Government to stabilize the labour milieu and buoy national productivity, hence the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment daily battles with very tight schedules, to spare even scant thought for the post-election intrigues in his state chapter of the party.

“Despite that, Senator Ngige wishes to assure all members that issues in contention will soon be laid to rest as the critical state stakeholders of the party in the state, will shortly work towards their resolution.”

Update news