The Federal Government on Wednesday said that the ongoing rift between the Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole and Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige will be resolved soon.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Oshiomhole had threatened to expel Ngige from the party and cabinet if he fails to inaugurate the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
Speaking on the rift, Mohammed said “What happened between the minister and chairman will be resolved.”
Explaining further he said two weeks ago, the government launched a campaign against fake news saying it’s one of the most dangerous phenomenon we have today. .
He stated “We don’t know who said what and until we know and the minister confirmed this statement credited to him, it’s difficult really to comment.
“I can assure you if there is any problem between the party chairman and any of our ministers, it will be resolved.”
On his part, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi denied report credit to him that he disparaged the party chairman.
He said “How do you know it’s true, I saw in social media this afternoon where they said I said the chairman is a bad luck. I never said so. I have never said such a thing. They quoted me that I was attacking the chairman.”
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Ngige said that he was not afraid of suspension in a party in which he is a founding member.
He was responding to the threat issued by Oshiomhole, that if he does not inaugurate the board members of federal agencies and parastatal under his ministry in line with the President’s directives, he will be suspended or expelled by the party.
When asked if he was going to comply and if he was not afraid of suspension from the party, Ngige said, “How? In a party that we formed and brought them in? The man is talking out of ignorance. I’m not afraid of suspension.”
Ngige, had in his written response earlier, explained why the Board of NSITF was yet to be inaugurated. He said: “Our National Chairman, I am in receipt of a letter referenced APC/NHDQ/ GEN-S/28/018/003 dated July 11, 2018, which was sent from your office and received by me on July 12, 2018. Ordinarily, I would not believe the letter was from you except for the barrage of media statements that came before I saw the letter. I read the contents of this letter with both amazement and utter disbelief.”
The minister said he had reconstituted three boards out of the four agencies and parastatals under his ministry, but has not been able to constitute the board of NSITF because of cases of financial malfeasance, which have put the agency under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).