- By Halimah Olamide
The APC leaders had written to Akpabio, saying that Ndume’s complaints about President Bola Tinubu are unbecoming and his utterances are not favourable to the Federal Government.
The Nigerian Upper legislative body on Wednesday relieved its Chief Whip Senator Ali Ndume of his position as the Senate’s Chief Whip.
The action of the senate is coming days after the senator representing Borno South senatorial openly complained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not accessible by his cabinet members and others.
The removal of Ndume, a very focal senator, came after a letter from the APC signed by National Chairman, Alhaji Umar Ganduje and the National Secretary, Senator Suŕajueen Basiru, respectively, was read on the floor on Wednesday.
The party had asked Ndume to quit the party and join any of the opposition parties.
The APC leaders had written to Akpabio, saying that Ndume’s complaints about President Bola Tinubu are unbecoming and his utterances are not favourable to the Federal Government.
The request was put to voice votes by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and loudly affirmed by all the APC Senators.
After Ndume’s complaints about Tinubu, the APC had last week replied him saying Tinubu was not caged.
The All Progressives Congress has said that the inability of Sen. Mohammed Ndume to access President Bola Tinubu cannot justify his outlandish declaration that the president had been “caged”.
The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Felix Morka, on Saturday reacting to comments credited to Ndume, the Chief Whip of the Senate, saying President Bola had been “caged”, slammed the lawmaker.
Ndume while saying that securing financial autonomy for Local Governments was the greatest achievement of Tinubu since he assumed office in 2023, also said that he was unaware of existential challenges in the country.
“The latest outburst in the media by the senator representing Borno South, and Chief Whip of the 10th Senate, Sen. Mohammed Ali Ndume, claiming that President Tinubu has been caged.
“And unaware of existential challenges in the country is as haughty as it is unnecessary.
“As a Senator, Ndume has a platform of the National Assembly to raise and address matters that he may consider to be in the national interest.
“He also has access to the entire machinery of the Federal Government,” the APC spokesman said.
Ndume’s Allegation Against Tinubu That Got Him Sacked
Ndume had last week while speaking with journalists said that the President was not in tune with happenings in the country.
“Mr President is not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa. He has been fenced off and caged. Many of us won’t go through the backdoor to engage him.
“Now, they have stopped him from talking, and he doesn’t have public affairs managers, except for his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, who writes press statements. Nigerians are getting very angry,” Ndume said.
Ndume, who had advised Tinubu to wake up to the realities of the moment, had said people like him cannot go trough the backdoor to engage the president.
“The government is not doing anything about the food scarcity, and it needs to act urgently. We don’t have food reserves. A food crisis is the worst crisis any nation can encounter. If we add that to the security crisis, it will be severe,” he said.