Minister says he's under pressure to run for Senate in 2019

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has disclosed that hes under pressure from his constituents to leave the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and run for Senate in the 2019 general elections.

The former Anambra State governor said he is consulting on running to become the representative of the Anambra Central Senatorial district in the upper legislative chamber.

According to a report by The Punch, he made the disclosure at a briefing at Obosi in the Idemili North local government area of Anambra State on Monday, August 20, 2018.

He said, "The people who are pressurising me are my constituents; the people of Anambra State and some prominent people from the South-East.

"We are all in agreement that we need to go and better the milieu of the ninth Senate. Many people feel that the present eighth Senate has been engulfed in a battle of supremacy with the executive and they feel that some of us who have tested the executive and legislature should go back. The Senate is not for kindergarteners.

"I am considering it, I am consulting and the result of my consultations will be made known in a fortnight."

Ngige won the 2011 senatorial election to represent Anambra Central on the platform of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and was Senator until 2015 before he was appointed a minister by President Muhammadu Buhari.

If he decides to run again in 2019, he's expected to run on the platform of the All Progressives' Congress (APC).

FG generous to South-East -Ngige

While speaking at the briefing on Monday, Ngige assured that the Buhari-led administration has been generous to the southeast region with infrastructural development as promised.

He said, "The Federal Government of Nigeria has been generous to the people of the South-East; I am from the South-East. You see the President promised us infrastructure development and the South-East has not been left out.

"When you talk about infrastructure, you are talking about transport, road infrastructure, air infrastructure, sea, health and power infrastructure. In all these areas, we (South- East) have not been left untouched.

"If you drive from Enugu now to Awka, you will see the work that is ongoing on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway; if you go there and see the thickness of asphalting work, you will marvel."

Ngige was elected Anambra State governor in 2003 but his victory was nullified by an election tribunal in 2016.