ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, officially filed a complaint to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, against Mohammed Ndume, over his recent utterances against the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
In a letter addressed to Akpabio and read on the floor of the Senate, National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and the National Secretary, Bashir Ajibola, called on Ndume to resign his membership of APC since he continues to attack the administration of President Tinubu.
In the letter, the APC national leadership asked the ruling party in the Senate to replace Ndume with Mohammed Tahir Monguno as the new chief whip. Mongonu hails from Borno State.
Monguno represents the Vice President, Kashim Shettima and he is a close ally to the vice president, who until his elevation, headed the judiciary committee.
The request by the party was granted, and Ndume was immediately replaced through a voice vote, presided over by Akpabio. Ndume was not in the chamber when his removal was announced by Akpabio.
He was also removed as vice chairman of the appropriations committee and named Senate Committee chairman on Tourism.
The APC said Ndume’s utterances were affecting foreign-direct investments into the country, and turning Nigerians against the administration of President Tinubu, who is working hard to fix the problems he inherited.
It said the party can no longer sit back and allow Ndume to set the country on fire with his careless utterances. It said Ndume claimed that the administration of Tinubu is populated by thieves.
“Ndume has continued to attack President Tinubu and his administration, even though he is a member of APC. He has continued to attack this government.
“His recent interview is another clear example. We urge him to resign his membership of APC. His frequent attacks are affecting foreign-direct investments into the country. We cannot continue to sit back and allow Ndume to attack this administration.
“We call on the leadership of the Senate to sanction him and replace him as the Senate chief whip. He can no longer continue to represent the party as the chief whip. We urge the caucus of the APC to immediately replace him and in his place, appoint Mohammed Monguno as the chief whip,” the party said in the letter.
In another move, the Senate made a failed attempt to suspend Ndume. Olusegun Fasuyi from Ekiti North had moved a motion claiming that Ndume’s utterances inflicted injuries on his personality.
However, Akpabio resisted his appeal that Ndume should be referred to the Ethics Committee, where he will be recommended for a six months suspension.
Ndume, in an interview, last week, complained that certain individuals were preventing people from seeing President Tinubu.
Sources in the Senate had, on Monday, told Daily Sun that individuals who plotted the move against Ndume had put Akpabio in a serious dilemma.
Ndume is the second ranking senator from the North targeted by Tinubu’s men, both in the Villa and in the Senate. In March, Abdul Ningi was suspended. Ndume was the director general of the Stability Group which ensured the victory of Akpabio as Senate President in June 2023.
According to multiple sources, moving against Ndume could polarise the Stability Group and reinforce the sinister impression that Akpabio is a willing tool in the hands of Tinubu.
The sources further revealed that certain senators from the South West known as Tinubu’s boys in the Senate, who ensured Ningi was suspended despite entreaties from their colleagues, played a role in putting Akpabio under pressure to submit to the demand to deal with Ndume.
The sources named four senators and a former House of Representatives speaker as the arrowheads behind the sinister move to oust Ndume.
However, it has been gathered that northern senators have warned against another plan to destabilise the caucus, barely a few months after Ningi was suspended.
One of the senators said Ndume did not criticise Tinubu, but only raised an alarm that he was being prevented from meeting with people who may tell the president the realities on ground.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Labour Party (LP) has condemned the removal of Senator Ndume over his vociferous stand with the suffering masses, noting that the action signified that ‘speaking truth to power’ is now a crime in Nigeria.
In a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the party said the humiliation of Ndume by the Goodwill Akpabio-led Senate portrayed dictatorial inclination.
“The dimension this administration is taking is grave. A few months ago, Senator Abdul Ningi exposed the rot in the government where the Senate leadership and the executive collaborators allegedly padded the budget. That got him suspended and intimidated out of his lawful representative role as a senator.
“It is needless talking about the economic crisis ongoing in Nigeria even where an ongoing are massively enriching themselves. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently said that food inflation has risen to 40.66 per cent. Similarly, the 2023 State of Food Security and Nutrition World report, has it that the number of food-insecure Nigerians has also increased by 133 per cent have three years. It jumped per cent.8 million between 2014 and 2016 to 148.7 million between 2020 and 2022. It is even worse at the moment.
“Even with all these glaring carrying challenges, the government is scared to have paid about N150 billion naira for a presidential jet, building roads that have no direct bearing on the economic crises in Nigeria.
“The media practitioners are recoiling into their shelves for the fear of reporting the facts about this government for the fear of emasculation and incarceration.
“What is so democratic about the party in government making decisions for an independent legislative arm on who takes up a leadership role in our legislature? This a tyranny of a cabal against clearly legislative autonomy. Nigeria gradually descending into dictatorship and we are calling on the citizens to be on alert and put up a defence against the starvation weapon being deployed by this administration.”
