…, asks him to join PDP

 

LESS than a week after Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South tongue lashed President Bola Tinubu- led Government, the National Working Committee, NWC of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has written the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, asking for the immediate sack of Ndume as Senate Chief Whip.

 

Ndume had accused Tinubu’ presidency of running a solo government despite hunger across the land, just as he had alleged in an interview that Tinubu had been fenced off and caged by certain forces and expressed concerns over the lack of appreciable action by Tinubu in tackling poverty, insecurity, hunger, and other pressing issues.

The APC in the letter read by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio yesterday, asked Ndume to resign from the party and join either the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP or any of the opposition party.

Immediately, the Senate sacked Ndume as the Whip and replaced him with the Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, APC, Borno North.

APC in the letter also removed Senator Ali Ndume as Chief Whip of the 10th Senate and replaced them with Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, APC, Borno North.

With this development, Ndume as a Principal officer who was made the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations was also dropped and replaced immediately with Monguno to be the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, APC, Ogun West.

As a way of punishment, Ndume, a former Senate Leader, Chairman, Senate Committee on Army in the 9th Senate and Chief Whip in the present 10th Senate, was announced by the President of the Senate as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Tourism.

Senator Adegbonmire Adeniyi Ayodele, APC, Ondo Central was immediately announced as Monguno ‘s successor.

Ndume’s replacement by the Senate was a sequel to a directive issued to that effect in a letter written by the National Chairman of the party, Umar Ganduje and the National Secretary, Senator Basiru Ajibola.

The request was put to voice votes by Senate President Akpabio and loudly affirmed by all the APC senators.

In the letter, the party said that Ndume’s complaints about President Bola Tinubu were unbecoming and his utterances not favourable to the Federal Government, just as the party expressed displeasure, outrage and deep disappointment, adding that his uncouth and rabid outbursts against the government, before the international and before the global community was not only harmful to the government’s image alone but also undermines the party’s unity and cohesion.

The APC letter read, “I’m writing on behalf of the National Working Committee of our great party to express our displeasure, our outrage and our deep disappointment at the unbecoming, unfounded and baseless criticism of the government and the party, the APC by your majority whip of the Senate, Sen. Ali Ndume as a member of the ruling party. We expected a much more responsible and decorous behaviour from him. But this has not been the case.

“His uncouth and rabid outbursts against the governments, before the international and before the global community is not only harmful to the government’s image alone but also undermines the party’s unity and cohesion and in addition, undermines the government’s effort to bring in foreign direct investments to Nigeria.

“As he is a ranking member of our party, his actions are unbecoming of a senior member of the Senate and sets a very poor example for others in future to follow.

“His latest tirade on air, during a programme on Arise Television where he referred to the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Commander-in-Chief as being run by thieves, portrays Ali Ndume as a person who is bent on running the country down and running the party aground through insightments and chief propaganda.

“We have reviewed that Senator Ali Ndume should honourably resign the membership of APC and join any opposition party of his choice formally instead of hiding behind the veil of grass activism to decimate the hard-earned cohesion and goodwill that our party, the APC, is enjoying within and outside the country.

“His utterances which are sheer propaganda are not based on verifiable facts are unbecoming of a member of the APC caucus of the Senate of the National Assembly. It therefore behoves the APC caucus to bring this to the attention of its members for necessary actions to curtail his deliberate mission to undermine the government and the party and the progress of Nigerians particularly those appointed by Mr President to work against his administration.

“We therefore urge the Senate caucus to take appropriate steps to address this issue and ensure that members of the Senate, particularly those within the All Progressives Congress, hold and maintain decorum in their public utterances.

“Accordingly, we realise that the position of the whip of the senate belongs to our party and we are not opposed to whatever petition the members of the APC caucus in the senate may have, but we are of the opinion that distinguished senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno should immediately replace distinguished Sen. Ali Ndume who is bent on bringing down the country as the majority whip of the Senate.

Recall that Ndume had said, “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.

“The government is not doing anything about 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.

“The President should wake up. It seems he isn’t in the picture of what is happening because he has been caged off by plutocrats. He should open his doors and meet those who will tell him the truth.

Unfortunately, the people who will tell him the truth won’t struggle to meet him. I am very worried, not only for the President himself but for myself.”