Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige says Igbos are being discriminated against by the Muhammadu Buhari administration because they didn’t invest in Buhari’s presidential campaign in 2015.
Ngige also said that politics is like a business and only those who invest should expect to reap a profit.
The minister made the comments during an interview with ThisDay in Abuja.
“I went to our Eze Ndi-Igbo in Enugu twice. They could not even reply to a letter written by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, seeking for a meeting with them,” Ngige stated, while responding to a question about the marginalization of the South-East zone by the Buhari administration.
“They refused to listen to me, and to make matter worse, there was no voting in most of the areas in the South-east; they just allocated 5 per cent to APC. It was that bad, it is too late to cry when the head is off. Politics is business in a way, you invest in business and you reap profit.
“Yes, that is what it is. But all I want to tell you is that we played bad politics; we made a bad investment because they invested in the Jonathan presidency. They invested in Jonathan more than the South-south, where he hails from.
“I am not saying that is enough to marginalize them or not allow them come in but we are there. I will continue to speak for them and when there is anything to be distributed, we will make sure that the South-east gets its own portion. But they will not get excess portion.
“Even in a family where the head of the family goes to the farm to harvest his yams those who accompany the farmer to the farm get more share. When they bring back the yams some of them will be damaged, and the pieces are put out in one section. Then the whole yams are put into the barn and some will be sent to the market for sale. And some will be sent to the family centrally for distribution among the family units.
“Those ones that are in pieces, the extras, will be shared among those that went to the farm. We did not benefit from the extras with people who went to the farm. We didn’t go to the farm in the south-east,” he added.
Ngige also said that he warned South-East leaders that the GEJ administration would fall in 2015.
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