Senate sacks Ndume as chief whip; expert decries attack on free speech

The Senate, on Wednesday, announced the removal of Senator Mohamed Ali Ndume (Borno South) as chief whip.

The removal followed a letter written to the Senate by the All Progressives Congress (APC) over Ndume’s criticism of the federal government’s handling of the economic situation in the country.

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 a food reserve. There is an unavailability of food. The food crisis is the worst crisis that any nation can encounter. If we add that to the 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.

But in the letter signed by the party’s national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and secretary, Senator Ajibola Bashiru, and read during plenary on Wednesday by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the APC asked Ndume to resign his membership in the party and pitch tent with any opposition party of his choice following his attacks on the president.

The APC claimed in the letter that Ndume’s criticism of the Tinubu-led government was “undermining the party’s unity and cohesion” and “undermining the government’s efforts in attracting foreign investors” to the country.

Ndume was also accused in the letter of trying to run the APC and the country aground.

After reading the letter, Akpabio subjected it to a voice vote for members of the APC Senate Caucus, who eventually endorsed Ndume’s removal as Senate Chief Whip.

Ndume was not only stripped of his position as chief whip but also of his position as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

Daily Trust had reported how some loyalists of Tinubu plotted to get Ndume suspended.

Sources at the National Assembly told Daily Trust that the pro-Tinubu senators were planning to not just strip Ndume of his position but also suspend him like Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central).

 However, after his removal as chief whip, the senators rejected a motion seeking to take further punitive measures against him.

Senator Fasuyi Cyril (Ekiti North) had urged the Senate to take punitive measures against Ndume over his comment.

Reacting, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Abuja, Abubakar Kari, told Daily Trust that both the Senate and the APC assaulted democracy with their decisions.

He said, “It’s very unfortunate, and it stands condemned by all true democrats and lovers of democracy. Democracy is a tradition; it has some cardinal principles. One of them is freedom of expression.

“Anytime the right of an individual or group to express themselves is denied, it is a direct assault on democracy, and that is the position from which I see this issue of Ndume.

“The APC as a party and the Senate as an institution collectively assaulted democracy. I don’t think this will augur well for democratic growth and consolidation, where individuals are not allowed to freely assert themselves within the ambit of the law.

“No one has come out to point to anything, whether in the constitution or laws of the land, that Ndume violated.

“It also shows political intolerance and a lack of internal party democracy. The APC is supposed to be a democratic party. It is supposed to be a party that preaches, practices, and operates on the basis of democracy. But it stands guilty and condemned for assaulting democracy.”