Ekiti Guber Polls: Confusion as Ngige Unwittingly Campaign for Fayose

 

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Tuesday unwittingly implored the Ekiti State people to vote for Governor Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming gubernatorial election.

In a video captured by Channels Television, the minister made this gaffe at the All Progressives Congress (APC) mega rally held in Ado-Ekiti ahead of the governorship election.

For many, the video brought to memory the recent gaffe by the Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, who was recently captured in a video having difficulty in pronouncing the word 'transmission'.

Although other speakers addressed the crowd without a hitch, Ngige, in his passion to canvass for the party's governorship candidate, Kayode Fayemi, the erstwhile Minister of Solid Minerals and Development, called on the crowd to vote Fayose, the incumbent governor of the state.

Speaking in Pidgin English, a popular and widely accepted local dialect in Nigeria, Ngige unknowingly said Fayose, a staunch critic of APC and President Muhammadu Buhari, was the better choice.

He said: "Will it happen on Saturday? Those who want Saturday with Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and everything to happen raise your hands.

"Mr. President and leaders of our party, the people have agreed and on Saturday, it will happen.

"We thank the leaders of our party, especially those from the South-west for forgiving Ekiti people for the mistake they made in 2014."

At this point, the leaders of the party, including the president and his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri, were all smiles without knowing what was coming next.

Ngige continued: "They won't make that mistake again. If you marry two wives, you will know the better one. Fayose (sic) is the better wife.

"Fayose cooks and gives her husband food. She doesn't give him trouble. So you must bring back Fayose on Saturday."

With this repetition, Dabiri who had obviously had enough, was seen frantically tapping his shoulders and whispering Fayemi's name to him.

To his appeal for the crowd to vote for Fayose, they shouted a resounding no, which cause the labour minister to be bewildered at the turn of events.

Meanwhile, some people were heard screaming Fayemi in undertones to alert him on the gaffe he had made.

As expected, the video sent the social media space to fever pitch as people wondered what made the minister to campaign for the opposition.

Ajala Jalingo said: "Fayose Jazz (charms) is strong, see Ngige campaigning for Fayose instead of Fayemi at the APC Mega rally in Ekiti with Buhari in attendance."

Adetutu Balogun said: "God is sending confusion into Fayemi’s camp. Ngige, Minister of Labour, told Ekiti people to bring back @GovAyoFayose."

May Ubeku added: "This is what you get when you import people from ‘Mauritius and Libya’ to campaign for Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti State. Bring back Fayose on Saturday, Chris Ngige of the APC echoed. #EkitiDecides2018."

Making reference to the IG's transmission gaffe, Babasola Kuti said: "APC Minister of labour, Ngige, at an APC rally with Buhari present asked Ekiti people to vote Fayose again.

"He must have been really impressed with what he saw. ‘Transmission, transmission’. You heard the man. Vote PDP."