Senators loyal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are reportedly planning to push for a sanction against Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) over his recent comments against the president.
Sources at the National Assembly told Daily Trust on Tuesday that the pro-Tinubu senators aim to strip Ndume of his position as Chief Whip of the Senate.
But the senate spokesman told Daily Trust that no senator is plotting the removal or suspension of Senator Ndume .
Last week, Ndume stated in an interview that the president was not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa, alleging that the president has been fenced off and caged.
“Nigerians are getting very angry. The government is not doing anything about the food scarcity and it needs to do something urgently. We don’t have food reserve. There is unavailability of food. Food crisis is the worst crisis that any nation can encounter. If we add that to security crisis, it will be severe,” he said.
His remarks triggered reactions from the pro-Tinubu camp with both Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) criticising his statement as derogatory.
Sources revealed that three of the four senators plotting Ndume’s suspension are from the South West—Ekiti, Ogun, and Lagos—while another senator from Kogi is involved. Senate President Godswill Akpabio faces a dilemma, considering Ndume was the Director-General of the Stability Group that supported Akpabio’s Senate presidency in June 2023.
Some Northern senators are reportedly waiting for the issue to be raised during plenary before taking a position. One source stated, “But of course, you know the Northern Senators will rise against another plan to destabilise their caucus, barely a few months after Ningi was suspended.”
No plots to sanction Ndume – Senate Spokesman
When contacted, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), said no senator is plotting Ndume’s removal or suspension.
He said, “No senator is plotting the removal or suspension of Senator Ndume. And the president has never prompted his suspension.
“The Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has never been involved in any clandestine plot, as ludicrously alleged.
“If there is any allegation against any Senator, such will be debated on the floor of the Senate chamber, and no one has raised any against any Senator.
“However, the Presidential Villa has no oversight function or influence over the National Assembly to suggest such a spurious falsehood. So, this tale in the moonlight should be disregarded.”
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