How Senate Spokesman denied plot to sanction Ndume

Hours after the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), denied the plot to  sanction Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume’s (APC, Borno South), the lawmaker was removed.

On Tuesday, sources at the National Assembly told Daily Trust that the pro-Tinubu senators aim to strip Ndume of his position as Chief Whip of the Senate.

This is as a result of his recent criticism of President Bola Tinubu.

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 had 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 a 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 had said

This 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.

According to sources, 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.

But when contacted, the senate spokesman said there was no plan to deal with Ndume.

Adaramodu 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.”