We Removed Ali Ndume as Senate Whip Because He’s a Mole in Our Party, Says APC

•Asks him to resign from party, Mongunu steps in as motion to sanction ex-chief whip fails

•LP: speaking truth to power is now criminal 

•Warns Falana to stop intimidating INEC, terrorising party members

Chuks Okocha and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, announced the removal of Senator Ali Ndume as Chief Whip of the 10th Senate, saying it is convinced that Ndume is a mole in the party.

Ndume was instantly replaced by Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Tahir Mongunu.

Ndume is senator for Borno South Senatorial District, while Mongunu is from Borno North, in the North-east geopolitical zone.

The change followed a directive in a letter signed by National Chairman of APC, Alhaji Umar Ganduje, and National Secretary, Senator Bashir Ajibola.

The request for removal of Ndume as Chief Whip was put to voice vote by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, at plenary on Wednesday, and was affirmed by majority of the APC senators.

Ndume’s removal was not unconnected with his comments last week during an interview with journalists, which many in the governing APC considered an anti-President Bola Tinubu stance. He alleged in the interview that the president had been caged at the villa and was not aware of the acute hunger being experienced by Nigerians.

Ndume had suffered a similar fate in January 2017, when he was removed as Leader of the eighth Senate.

But the leadership of Labour Party (LP) condemned Ndume’s removal as Chief Whip because he stood with the suffering masses. LP said the action signified that in the current dispensation, “speaking truth to power” had become a crime in Nigeria.

LP, in a separate reaction, condemned a letter and statement by foremost lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, and his law firm, which it said were meant to disparage the party and damage its hard earned image and character.

The APC National Working Committee (NWC) had in a letter to the senate president alleged that Ndume seriously abused his office through unguarded utterances and outbursts against the federal government and Tinubu, in particular.

The NWC further alleged that Ndume was more of a mole in the party and advised him to honourably resign his membership.

The letter read, “We write 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 government 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 incitements and cheap propaganda.

“We have reviewed that Sen. 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 crass activism to decimate the hard earned cohesion and goodwill that our party, the APC, is enjoying within and outside the country.”

The letter added regarding Ndume, “His utterances, which are sheer propaganda, are not based on verifiable facts, are unbecoming of 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 position 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.”

Akpabio, after reading the letter, put the NWC’s request to voice vote among the APC senators, and majority of the senators supported Ndume’s removal.

Apart from removing Ndume as Chief Whip of the Senate, he was also removed from his deputy chairmanship position of Senate Committee on Appropriation, and made Chairman of Committee on Tourism.

Monguno, who replaced Ndume as Chief Whip, also replaced him as deputy chairman of the appropriations committee.

The senate, however, gave Ndume a soft landing, when Senator Cyril Fasuyi (APC Ekiti North) moved a motion for him to face the Senate Committee on Code of Conduct, Ethics and Privileges on allegations bordering on alleged kleptomania.

In an apparent move to save Ndume from suspension, Akpabio, in his remarks on Fasuyi’s motion, said since the APC NWC had requested for his removal as Chief Whip and it was approved, he should be forgiven for now.

LP: Speaking Truth to Power Now a Crime

Labour Party (LP), in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said the humiliation of Ndume by the Akpabio-led senate portrayed the dictatorial inclination of the ruling APC.

LP said Ndume’s crime was the bold expression of  his concerns regarding the escalating cost of living and food scarcity in Nigeria, and his revelation that Tinubu had chosen to play the ostrich even in the face of acute starvation in Nigeria.

LP stated, “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 a few cabal are massively enriching themselves. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently said that food inflation had 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 in three years. It jumped from 63.8 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 and scaring challenges, the government is said to have paid about N150 billion for a presidential jet, building roads that have no direct bearing with the economic crisis 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 decision for an independent legislative arm on who takes up leadership role in our legislature. This is clearly the tyranny of a cabal against legislative autonomy.”

LP said, “Nigeria is gradually descending into dictatorship and we are calling on the citizens to be on the alert and put up a defence against the starvation weapon being deployed by this administration.”

LP Warns Falana to Stop Intimidating INEC, Terrorising Members

Condemning Falana for deliberately assassinating the party’s hard-earned image and character, LP, in a statement by Ifoh, said the party would have ignored the ill-motivated, provocative and fallacious letter addressed to INEC by Falana and his firm.

However, LP said the statement was capable of misleading people and, therefore, needed to be clarified.

The party said Falana’s chamber had recently written to INEC warning the commission against recognising Julius Abure as National Chairman of LP.

Falana, in the letter to INEC, according to LP, also warned some respected leaders and political office holders in the party to stay away from LP ahead of the 2027 general election.

It said the law firm also threatened INEC with contempt proceedings if it failed to do its bidding.

LP stated, “Falana is deploying an unconventional tactics of intimidation against the INEC in an attempt to achieve what it was unable to achieve in the last decade through unsuccessful attempts in the courts.”

Ifoh said the Nigerian constitution and the electoral law were clear on the position of law concerning the independence and ownership of a political party.

According to the party, “Political parties are owned by Nigerians and, therefore, cannot be owned by another organisation. We find it absurd to see Falana and his group labouring to give different interpretation to the laws of the land.”