Economic Hardship: Northern Senators Split over Ndume’s Anti-Tinubu Comments

•Akpabio’s loyalists want chief whip punished 

•Senate spokesperson says he won’t be sacked 

•Lawan clears air on controversial comments

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

There is tension in the Senate as some northern senators have allegedly moved against the Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, over his recent comments on the current hardship being faced by Nigerians.

Ndume had during an interview with journalists alleged that President Bola Tinubu had been caged and was not aware of the acute hunger being experienced in the country.

Also during a debate on high cost of food items caused by middle men in the distribution chain, on the floor of the Senate, last week, former Senate president, Ahmad Lawan, also alleged that the entire food reserve in the country was empty.

The development, according to sources in the red chamber, did not go down well with some senators, who felt both Ndume and Lawan, portrayed Tinubu and his administration in bad light.

However, strong indications emerged yesterday that there was grand plot to punish Ndume and Lawan just the way their colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi, was treated some months ago.

The Borno South lawmaker is a principal officer of the 10th upper legislative chamber, so those moving against him believed he should have been more careful.

A source among the aggrieved senators, who was not happy with the Anti-Tinubu comments from Ndume, said yesterday they were planning a motion to punish the Borno South lawmaker

They were said to be putting pressures on the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio in a serious dilemma, urging him to move against Ndume.

Another source however said the forces against Ndume actually wanted him suspended.

Ndume was the Director-General of the Stability Group which ensured the victory Akpabio as President of the Senate in June 2023.

The development is causing serious tension as the move against Ndume could polarise the Stability Group and ultimately affect Akpabio’s Senate presidency.

A source among the senators said, “Two pronged punishments are being considered.”

He said, First, Akpabio would be told to orchestrate his removal as Senate Chief Whip and Senate Committee so that Ndume would be removed as vice chairman of the Committee on Appropriation.”

However, it has been gathered that northern senators have warned against another plan to destabilise their caucus, barely a few months after Ningi was suspended.

One of the senators said, “Ndume didn’t 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.”

Spokesperson for the Senate, Adeyemi Adaramodu, told journalists that the alleged planned plot against Ndume, existed in the imagination of some people.

” No one is planning to either remove Ndume as Chief Whip or suspend him just because he expressed his personal opinion.

“Senators from the majority caucus which cut across the six geopolitical zones endorsed his emergence as a principal officer, hence no group of senators could remove him just like that.

“There is no tension in the Senate. We are one and we are playing the roles expected of us as representatives of the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, a non-political group, Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), has thrown its weight behind Ndume, through a  statement by its  the coordinator,  Mallam Abdulkadir Kura.

CNF noted that it had no linkage with Ndume, as it is non-political, but it would always stand for any northerner who has courage in defending the masses, as enshrined in the constitution of the group.

Also, yesterday, Lawan, “strongly condemned and categorically denied a false and malicious report about the hunger and unbearable hardships in the country.”  Lawan, in a statement, said, “It is not only untrue but also deeply insensitive and divisive.”

The former Senate president, in the statement, by his media aide, Ezrel Tabiowo, said “the false report is a deliberate attempt to sow seeds of disunity amongst Nigerians.

“It is a clear fabrication designed by mischief makers to incite ethnic tensions and create political instability,” he added

Chairman, Senate Service, Senator Sunday Karimi, had issued a statement on Saturday, to  caution Ndume, to refrain from making derogatory statements against the President Tinubu’s Government.

He likened Ndume’s behaviour “to that of a loose cannon and emphasising the need for constructive dialogue and criticism in governance.”