Reasons have emerged on why the immediate past Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba was conspicuously absent at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary.
Nwajiuba was nowhere to be found when the 22 other aspirants of the party were delivering their manifestoes to delegates who had converged on the Eagle Square, Abuja, overnight.
The former minister’s absence was quite shocking to Nigerians as he was one of the first ministers to resign from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered public office holders vying for the presidential seat to leave their post.
Speaking on his absence, the ex-minister’s family in a statement issued by his brother, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, stated that he entered the race for the presidency with the belief that the ticket would be zoned to the South-East.
He explained that his brother stayed away from the exercise due to the possibility of monetization of the process.
The statement read: “Many friends are calling to find out why my brother, Dr. Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba did not come out to address the APC convention.
“Simple: The understanding from the highest levels prior to his involvement, and considering his role in the founding of the APC, was that of consensus as was with the National Chairmanship a few months ago.
“With that understanding, the Presidential ticket was to come to the South, and the southeast.
“This has been the hope till the end of the negotiations. He, not wanting to be part of the Dollar and Naira bazaar, is convinced that what Nigeria needs now is no more of the same thing that has kept Nigeria at the low level it has been.
“Our challenges as a country cannot be addressed at the same energy level by which they were created.”
