Strong indications have emerged that the Senate may reinstate Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (Borno South) as Chief Whip following the intervention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leadership.
Ndume had visited national secretariat of the ruling party in Abuja, on Tuesday, and tendered apology over the crisis that led to his removal as Chief Whip of the Senate.
Ndume had criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration on the issue of rising hunger and food insecurity.
Amid the uproar over the lawmaker’s criticism, the party’s national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the national secretary, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, had transmitted a letter to the Senate Caucus of the party on the removal of Ndume.
The letter was read by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and adopted during plenary.
Ndume was immediately replaced with Senator Tahir Monguno (Borno North) as Chief Whip following the party’s recommendation.
Senator Mungono also became Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, a position hitherto held by Ndume, before the disciplinary action was taken against him.
Since then, Ndume’s supporters have been protesting and calling on the Senate and the APC to reinstate him as the Chief Whip.
Addressing newsmen after their closed-door meeting, Ganduje said Ndume had apologised to the party over his conduct and announced the party’s plans to transmit another letter to the Senate caucus of the APC through Akpabio to review the decision taken against the Borno federal lawmaker.
Ganduje said, “We are quite satisfied with his apology. Like he said, we invited him and you know the party is the father of everybody. As a party, we are free to invite legislators, we are free to invite members of the executive, and we are even free to invite all the appointed party members in government.
“So that is why we decided to come. So it is a family issue; we need to resolve it and we are writing to the National Assembly conveying what has transpired between Senator Ndume and the party and you know he apologised to the party and we will convey this to the National Assembly, so that we hope they can review their position.”
On his part, Senator Ndume apologised to the APC, saying he made a mistake by not approaching the party with the issues he raised about the government and promised to follow the appropriate channel next time.
Ndume said, “With what has happened which you are all aware, it is not surprising that I am invited to hear my own side and we had family discussions and I actually accepted the mistake of not talking to the party as a last point.
“I promised the party that all my observations as a senior member of the family should have terminated or ended with the party. That is something that moving forward, I would do, but whatever I said or whatever I did was out of patriotism and those issues maybe said strongly but they are true. But then I should have talked to the party as the last bus stop.”
On whether he would also apologise to the President and the Senate, Ndume said, “The President and the Senate have nothing to do with this. The President did not take offence. I didn’t insult the President; I didn’t say anything against the party but I left the party out of reach on issues and so, please I think that is all I can say.”
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