Senate Sacks Ndume as Chief Whip, APC Tells Him to Exit

Mohamed Ali Ndume

APC boots out Ndume, Ex-Borno lawmaker...

The Senate voted to remove Senator Mohamed Ali Ndume (Borno South) as Chief Whip on Wednesday, July 17. Senate President Godswill Akpabio conducted a voice vote among APC Senate Caucus members, resulting in Ndume's removal.

Tahir Mungono (Borno North) was appointed as Ndume's successor. This development comes after Ndume publicly criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration, likely leading to his ousting as Chief Whip.

The APC national leadership demanded Senator Mohamed Ali Ndume's resignation from the party in a letter addressed to the Senate Caucus. The letter, signed by Chairman Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and Secretary Barrister Ajibola Bashiru, instructed Ndume to join any opposition party of his choice.

Ndume had earlier criticized President Tinubu's plan to relocate some CBN and FAAN departments to Lagos, warning of political consequences in January. His comments likely led to the APC's decision to expel him from.

Senator Ndume alleged that President Tinubu is being misled by a group he called the “Lagos Boys”, who he believes are uninformed about the country's dynamics and will be unable to support the president when the consequences of his actions arise.

Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the relocation of some offices to Lagos due to congestion, while the Federal Government plans to move the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) headquarters to Lagos to improve operations and reduce costs. However, Ndume countered that if congestion is the issue, nearby states like Nasarawa, Kaduna, or Kogi would be more suitable locations, rather than distant Lagos.

“Some of them think that they know better than everybody. But they don't know anything. When you don't know Nigeria, you only know Lagos, then you start doing things as if Nigeria is Lagos. Lagos is in Nigeria. That's a wrong decision. We will not accept it. Besides, you know, they are not doing any favour to Mr. President, because this will have political consequence. Yes. I'm telling you this.

“And these guys who are just sitting down there, trying to hang on to Mr. President will not be there to amend the political mistakes or even to correct it because they don't know anybody. They only know their offices. And they only know that they have brains,” he said.