Erstwhile Senate Chief Whip Ali Ndume yesterday apologised to the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for not consulting the party before publicly criticising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
But the Bornu South senator insisted that he stood by his words: “Whatever I said or whatever I did was out of patriotism.”
Ndume was replaced by Senator Mohammed Monguno following a letter by the ruling party to sanction him for his unguarded statement against the President.
In the letter jointly signed by APC National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru, APC directed the Upper Chamber to sanction Ndume for deliberately failing to utilise the party’a machinery to vent his anger before going public, despite being a senior member and lawmaker of the ruling party.
In an interview with BBC Hausa Service, Ndume had alleged that President Tinubu was held captive by forces in the Presidential Villa, saying they were feeding the President with lies and shielding him from selfless Nigerians who could tell him the truth.
His criticism led to his removal as a principal officer of the National Assembly and a committee chairman.
Addressing reporters after a meeting with APC’s National Working Committee (NWC), Ndume said: “Yesterday (Monday), I was invited by the party and here I am to discuss family matters. Actually, the national chairman is not just a national chairman to me but a father.
“With what has happened, which you are all aware of, it is not surprising that I am invited to hear my own side and we had family discussions.
“I actually 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.
“That is something, moving forward. 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.”
When asked about his membership of APC, he said: “I have not been expelled; even the party did not say we don’t want you here, because he is my father. The party is my father; the only thing the party said is that ‘look, if you don’t want this house, you can go to any (other) house.’ (But) Where will I go? This is my house.”
When asked if he would 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. So, please, I think that is all I can say.”
Confirming Ndume’s apology to the party, 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 the government.
“So, it is a family issue. We needed to resolve it. We are writing to the National Assembly, conveying what has transpired between Senator Ndume and the party. You know he apologised to the party. We will convey the same issue to the National Assembly. When we do that, we hope they can review their position.”
