Godsgift Onyedinefu
A political group, The Project Nigeria Group (PNG) has declared its support for Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Co-Convener of the Group, Princes Onwudi, while addressing a world press conference on Friday, urged the All Progressives Congress to pick Nwajiuba, especially as the party has decided to zone its presidential ticket to the South.
She said the Minister has all it takes to win and rule the country, having shown patriotism towards all regions in the country as he executes his mandates as Minister of Education. She
“We are here today to project a personality and a force that has yearned for years for the strengthening of the nation called Nigeria into a united, indivisible and functional entity in the world. We are here to present a non-tribalistic technocrat who has the needed capacity, intellectual embodiment and the political goodwill to harness this nation into becoming the true giant of the largest continent on earth – Africa,” she said.
“We are presenting a man of vision and an astute fellow full of developmental ideas and cohesive reasonings. We are presenting to our country, Nigeria a man who is a bridge-builder between the young and the old, the north and the south and the various ethnic and religious diversities. He has the energy and strength to occupy the Nigerian Presidency and meet up the demands of such an office at a time like this. He has the needed character, capacity, candour, competence and capability for the exalted office.
“Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba is the man the job needs and not the man that needs the job. He’s one of the best of the rest of the aspirants for Nigeria’s 2023 Presidency. At 54, his resume speaks volumes of achievements with zero corruption. His expanse of political coverage has no leanings on ethnic bigotry. He’s an Igbo in acts and pacts but with a vision to use his Igboness to cohere the nation in greater strides.
“In the east, he is the star, in the west, he is the starlight and in the north, he is the galaxy. He is the force for breaking off hatred and ethnicism and building strong alliances for our national development. The real question now is: What are we looking for in the actualization of a Nigerian President of Southeast Extraction or How do we actualise the dream of a Nigerian President of Southeast Extraction? There’s no other voice so loud and clear and no other selfless leader so committed to the growth of our nation like Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba. The better choice for APC is Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba. Let’s give him our support!”, she added.
Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba is a lawyer, politician and administrator. He has been inactive in politics for over thirty years. He has been an elected member of the Nigerian House of Representatives three times, where he has served as Chairman, House Committee on Works and Housing as well as an active member of several other committees in the house.
He was also a trailblazer in the sponsorship of bills on issues of national interest. He supported President Muhammadu Buhari in 2003 when he contested the Presidency under ANPP and that same year he emerged as Imo State Governorship Candidate of ANPP.
He later proceeded to join forces with his respected political father, President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2010 to form another national political party known as Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which he later became Imo State Governorship Candidate of the party in the year 2011. With all that played out then, he wasn’t deterred but continued in the belief that he must give out his best when the actual time comes.
In 2017, he became the first person from the Igbo stock, Southeast of Nigeria, to be appointed by the President of Nigeria as the Executive Chairman of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND); an office he held and worked to turn around the state of our tertiary institutions to become more standardized in research and physical development.
In 2019, he had to resign as the Executive Chairman of TETFUND to run for the House of Representatives, which he won.
Many people however criticised his decision to leave an elected office for a mere appointment.