Ngige: How Buhari disappointed me over Nnamdi Kanu’s release

Former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has opened up on one of the few occasions he felt let down by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He recalled being disappointed that his then close ally refused to release detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, despite a high-level plea from prominent Igbo elders.

Ngige, a former governor of Anambra State, said the move happened in 2022, when he personally organised a meeting between Buhari and a delegation of respected leaders from the South East.

The team was led by the late First Republic Minister of Aviation, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, and included the late Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Bishop Onuoha, Chief Ralph Uwazurike, and then Minister of Science and Technology, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu.

According to Ngige, the delegation appealed directly to Buhari to order Kanu’s release on compassionate grounds.

“Yes, I was disappointed and I told him,” Ngige said in an interview. “In 2022, I organised for him to meet with Igbo leaders. We went with Chief Mbazulike Amaechi leading the team… we appealed to him, but it didn’t happen. That was why I said Buhari disappointed me on that matter.”

The former minister, who described himself as a friend to Buhari until his death, added that the former president had always wished Nigerians well, especially the downtrodden, but this was one request he refused to grant.

Ngige also spoke about Buhari’s resistance to the devaluation of the Naira throughout his eight years in office, insisting the late president fought against it “with all his strength.”

Buhari’s death, Ngige said, came as a shock, even though he had feared for the former president’s health during his long medical absence in 2016 and 2017. “That’s God’s will,” he said. “But on Nnamdi Kanu, I can say he let me down.”