Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity and presidential aspirant under the All Progressives Congress, Dr Chris Ngige, has lamented that he only budgeted N50m for the procurement of the nomination and declaration of interest forms of the APC to contest the presidential election.
He disclosed that he would find solace in his supporters for financial support now that the APC had hiked the price tag to N100m.
Ngige who appeared on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television, said he had no option but to abide by the position of the ruling party.
The former Governor of Anambra State described the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu as “a serious minded person while he recalled his days with Adamu in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and the Senate.
The Minister was a member of the Senate in the 7th National Assembly.
“Whether I’m happy with that or I’m not happy with that, that is their own position; they have done their calculation, they have done their work.
“For Adamu to dsay N100m, he has seen certain things. And I was a party official in PDP, unfortunately. I was Assistant National Secretary and Zonal Secretary in the South-East. So, I know the workings of the party.
“Let me give you a typical example. After the sale of these forms and candidates emerge, both governors, senators and others; when you tell them to contribute to the party, you won’t see them. That was our experience in the PDP. That was our experience in the ACN (the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria).
“That was our experience in the APC. I can tell you that. And they have done the right thing by saying that the young folks – the young ones – have a 50 per cent discount.
“For somebody like me, I was budgeting N50m – my supporters and I. But when the thing came out and it was N100m, they started calling me.”
