A former Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume has apologized to the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, for not consulting the party before publicly accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of maladministration.
Ndume who represents Borno South in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, however, said that he stands by his words, insisting that whatever he said or did was out of patriotism.
“Yesterday I was invited by the party and here I am to discuss family matters with what has happened which you are all aware, actually the national chairman is not just a national chairman to me but a father,” the lawmaker said.
“It is not surprising that I was invited to hear my side and we had family discussions. I accepted the mistake of not talking to the party as a last point and I promised the party that all my observations as a senior member of the family should have terminated or ended with the party.
“But whatever I said or whatever I did was out of patriotism and those issues may be said strong but they are true but then I should have talked to the party as the last bus stop,” he added.
However, addressing journalists after a meeting of the APC National Working Committee in Abuja on Tuesday, national chairman of the party, Abdulahi Ganduje said the party’s administrative organ would be writing to the Senate over the outcome of the interface with the ‘erring’ lawmaker for the Red Chamber to review its earlier position on him.
READ ALSO: Bwala can only be a political liability to Tinubu, says Ndume
The APC national chairman 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 the government.
“So, that is why we decided to come, 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 apologized to the party and we convey the same issue to the National Assembly that we hope they can review their position.”
The senator was removed and replaced by Senator Mohammed Monguno following a letter by the ruling party to sanction the lawmaker for his hurtful and unguarded statement against the President.
In the letter jointly signed by the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje and National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, the party directed the upper chamber to sanction the lawmaker, being a high-ranking leader of the party for deliberately failing to utilise party machinery to vent his anger before going public.
Ndume had Ndume, in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, alleged that President Bola Tinubu was held captive by forces in the Presidential Villa.
The senator said the forces have been feeding the President with lies and shielding him from selfless Nigerians who can tell him the truth.
His criticism led to his removal from his position as a principal officer in the National Assembly and a committee chairman.
Credible News.ng
