NDUME‘s political career is four years younger than the Fourth Republic. Eight years after winning election into the House of Representatives in 2003, he became a senator in 2011. This makes him one of the longest serving senators. Since then, he has become a high-profile political personality, using different fora to express his concern on the plight of the North, and poor Nigerians.
Ganduje’s command was intended to provoke Ndume’s angry exit from the party to declare his seat vacant, and call for election to fill the void. Instead of a fight, pacified Ndume hid in the shadow of Governor Zulum; as he told a group of women who paid him a solidarity visit in Maiduguri, that he would only move to another party if Governor Zulum also moves out. To the chagrin of the Gandujes, despite his reduced stature in APC, Senator Ndume is staying put in the party.
His recent outspokenness has set him on a collision course with the leadership of his party (APC) and its legislative and executive cabals, and has led to his recent removal as the Senate Chief Whip. His removal elicited a heated remark from Salihu Lukman, a former National Working Committee Vice Chairman (North West) of the APC.
Lukman is embittered on several counts. First, by the way President Tinubu is caged and made highly inaccessible. Secondly, by the way his party, the APC, is dictatorially run, with the functions of its organs usurped by its chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who didn’t avail Senator Ndume the right to fair hearing, before his removal as Senate Chief Whip. Thirdly, Lukman is concerned with how the APC’s 2023 Renewed Hope Agenda has been turned upside down, subjecting Nigerians to hunger, poverty, insecurity and hopelessness.
The APC-caging of the president strategy predates the Tinubu administration. There was the same cry during the Buhari regime, when a cabal made President Buhari inaccessible, which made the former first lady, Aisha Buhari, to cry out to the nation on the issue.
Caging octogenarian presidents enables overzealous presidential aides to usurp some of their powers, concocting presidential approvals and directives in furtherance of selfish goals.
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The democratic right of fair hearing resonates only with the Lukmans, the democrats in the party, not with the party leaders. The different cabals in government, who insulated the president, and the party leadership have acquired a Hitlerite fascistic trait: you are either their friend or an enemy. They don’t entertain any ambivalent posture or middle road position; you are either with them 100% or not. If you’re not with them, you are only good for the sharks.
As long Senator Ndume was comfortably seated on the back of the tigress, he saw nothing wrong with APC violating the inclusive principle of democracy. He had no qualms that in a multi ethnic, and bipolar regional polity, the President, the Chief Justice of the Federation, and the Senate President should hail from the same region. He was so comfortable with such brazen lopsideness, which transformed him into a powerful arrowhead in the emergence of Senator Akpabio as Senate President.
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Ndume could somehow have a channel to the president, or the cabal shielding him. Going public on the scary state of the nation would opportunistically distance him from the excesses of the system, whilst he isn’t distant from the privileges offered by it. The Ndume strategy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is a chicken which has come home to roost.
Having had a premonition of what is presently happening, Lukman threw in the towel and resigned from the National Working Committee; whilst Ndume probably thought that his services in the emergence of the Akpabio leadership would shield him from the indignities thrown at other senators. Luckily for Lukman, his ride on the back of the tigress was short. Rather than being consumed, he disembarked from its back, left before he was shoved away. Within a twinkle of an eye, Ndume has been punished twice: removed as Senate Chief Whip, and commanded to leave the party, since the APC doesn’t have a space for his types.
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Ganduje’s command was intended to provoke Ndume’s angry exit from the party to declare his seat vacant, and call for election to fill the void. Instead of a fight, pacified Ndume hid in the shadow of Governor Zulum; as he told a group of women who paid him a solidarity visit in Maiduguri, that he would only move to another party if Governor Zulum also moves out. To the chagrin of the Gandujes, despite his reduced stature in APC, Senator Ndume is staying put in the party.
Ndume’s earlier salvo to the regime on the relocation of key departments of the CBN from Abuja to Lagos might have ruffled feathers of the various cabals in the Tinubu administration, which paved the way for his removal as Senate Chief Whip, and his rejection by the party.
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Ndume’s political style sets him apart from the cabals on top of the party; and the kitchen cabinet in Aso Rock. He wanted to eat his cake and had it again. The cabals wouldn’t allow that; they wouldn’t tolerate a principal beneficiary of the system who dines with them to wine with those warming to protest against their rule. Someone in Ndume’s shoes shouldn’t publicly call a spade a spade; he should diplomatically call it a cutlass, or seal his lips, making the inaccessible president, and party executives happy. Thereafter he could eat his cake and have it again.
Ndume could somehow have a channel to the president, or the cabal shielding him. Going public on the scary state of the nation would opportunistically distance him from the excesses of the system, whilst he isn’t distant from the privileges offered by it. The Ndume strategy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds is a chicken which has come home to roost.
Jahun, a commentator on public affairs, writes from Dutse, Jigawa State Capital. He writes this column every Wednesday under the title: “The Other Perspective”. He can be reached via email@: aminuhabibu58@gmail.com or WhatsApp@: +234 703 903 8088
