Ali Ndume: The many battles of controversial Nigerian lawmaker

When Borno South senator Ali Ndume emerged from a meeting with the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja last Tuesday, it was apparent something had happened to him. His belligerent posture was gone.

Since becoming a federal lawmaker over two decades ago, Mr Ndume has always courted controversy and has never been shy of publicly stating his position, even if it offends his fellow ruling elites.

So, when he remained defiant after his party and his fellow senators responded harshly to his public statement, many Nigerians felt that was typical of him.

But last Tuesday, his demeanour looked different. It was easier to figure out what happened once the lawmaker spoke to journalists about his business at the secretariat and what transpired at the parley with the party leaders.

“Yesterday, I was invited by the party, and here I am to discuss family matters,” he said. “Actually, the national chairman is not just a chairman to me but a father. With what happened, it is not surprising that I was invited to hear my side, and we had a family discussion.”

Mr Ndume, adorned in his accustomed white agbada, acknowledged that he had erred by not first reaching out to his party before criticising President Bola Tinubu.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

“I accepted the mistake of not talking to the party as a last point, and I told the party that all my observations as a senior member of the family should have terminated or ended with the party,” he said.

“That is something that will be corrected moving forward. But whatever I said or did was out of patriotism.

“Those issues may have been said strongly, but they are true. Again, I should have talked to the party as the last bus stop. Next time when I want to talk, I will come and get clearance or at least talk to the party.”

The senator also debunked claims that he had been expelled from the APC, a party he joined 11 years ago.

“I have not been expelled. Even the party did not say we don’t want you here because the party is my father. The only thing the party said is that ‘if you don’t want this house, you can go to any house. But where will I go? This is my house.”

The Genesis

On 17 July, Mr Ndume, a four-time senator, was sacked as chief whip by the APC-dominated upper chamber of the National Assembly for criticising President Bola Tinubu and his administration.

His sack followed a letter from the party’s leadership to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, requesting the punishment.

In the letter, signed by the National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and National Secretary, Bashir Ajibola, the party premised its request for Mr Ndume’s removal on “unguarded utterances” that were “against the federal government.”

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje

The APC leaders described Mr Ndume as “someone who is bent on dividing the country” and “not putting the country in a better position in the international community.”

When Mr Akpabio, after reading the letter, put the matter to a voice vote, Mr Ndume’s colleagues, including the opposition, voted overwhelmingly for his removal as their chief whip. He was immediately replaced with fellow Borno senator Tahir Monguno, who represents the northern part of the northeastern state.

Ndume’s battles

For those watching his political career, Mr Ndume’s vituperation against the Tinubu administration did not come as a surprise. In fact, his decision to apologise to his party for speaking out may have shocked some.

However, the polytechnic lecturer-turned-politician was merely walking on a familiar turf.

In 2017, Mr Ndume was fired as the senate leader. He had been unanimously elected two years earlier when Bukola Saraki emerged as the president of the 8th Senate.

However, the Borno senator was stripped of his position following a recommendation by the APC senate caucus.

He was alleged to be too close to the presidency, which had a frosty relationship with the upper chamber’s leadership at the time.

To make matters worse, the Sakari-led Senate was uncomfortable with Mr Ndume’s support for Ibrahim Magu, his constituent nominated by the presidency for the chairmanship of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the time.

EFCC Headquarters

As if that was not enough, shortly after his removal in March 2017, Mr Ndume was suspended from the upper chamber for six months.

His ordeal stemmed from his demand for an investigation of allegations of importation of a bullet-proof Range Rover with a fake document involving Mr Saraki and allegations of perjury against Dino Melaye, a fellow senator and Saraki ally.

The Senate approved the suspension after its committee on ethics and privileges chaired by Samuel Anyanwu, currently the PDP national secretary, recommended it.

In its report, the committee said Mr Ndume “failed to conduct a proper investigation before making the allegations.”

During the panel’s sitting, the embattled Borno lawmaker said he did not make the allegations or raise a petition against Messrs Saraki and Melaye but only raised the issues “having read them in the newspaper.”

However, despite his removal as the number three official member of the Senate, Mr Ndume was still active as a lawmaker. Indeed, he moved several motions and sponsored many bills thereafter, including the Constituencies Development Fund Bill and the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that enabled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to vote in 2015.

Senator Ali Ndume

But Mr Ndume’s ordeals are not limited to the parliament.

In 2011, the lawmaker was linked with terrorism. It was a time when terror attacks were at their peak in Nigeria, especially in the north-east region of the country he comes from.

He was tried for six years on charges of alleged terrorism financing. The federal government instituted the suit against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

According to the government, the offence contravened sections 3, 4, and 7 of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011.

Mr Ndume described the charges as unjust and unfair, saying he gave the then Vice President Namadi Sambo and the then Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) the information he got from the Boko Haram terrorists.

Former Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo

The lawmaker further stated that contact with the sect was established when he was appointed a member of the presidential committee on security matters.

Reprieve came his way when, on 4 July 2017, the court dismissed the case because the Nigerian government failed to link him with the allegation.

Yet Another Controversy

Mr Ndume landed in another trouble in 2020. The senator was remanded for failing to produce a former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, for whom he stood as surety. The accused is also his constituent.

Mr Maina had jumped bail for an alleged N2 billion money laundering trial, and since the senator could not produce the defendant, the court had no choice but to remand him.

Abdulrasheed Maina

The judge, Okon Abang, ordered Mr Ndume remanded after the lawmaker failed to file a formal application to show cause why he should not forfeit the N500 million bail bond deposed on 5 May 2020, which was part of the conditions for standing surety for Mr Maina.

Mr Abang said the senator would only be released from prison after meeting the three conditions, including producing the fleeing defendant in court.

The two other options given to Mr Ndume were paying the N500 million bail bond into the Federation Account with the evidence of payment presented before the court or forfeiting to the federal government his property in the highbrow Asokoro District of Abuja, worth N500 million, which he used as security for the bail bond.

The man Ndume

Born 65 years ago in Gwoza in the southern district of Borno State, Mr Ndume was a lecturer at Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri and rose to the rank of a senior lecturer at the institution before he fully joined politics.

He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2003, representing the Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency on the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform.

Chibok is the community where the Boko Haram terrorists carried out their first mass abduction of secondary school students back in 2014.

Mr Ndume was re-elected to the House in 2007 and was made the House minority leader, a position he held until 2011.

In 2010, he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) barely three months before the 2011 general election after reportedly falling out with the then-Borno governor, Ali Modu Sheriff.

Ali Modu Sheriff

The defection hit the ANPP because many people believed that Mr Ndume was the principal financier and backbone of the ANPP in his senatorial district and was considered one of the most vibrant lawmakers from the North-east.

Mr Ndume was elected to the Senate and appointed chairman of the Senate Committee on MDGs in the 7th Senate under the leadership of David Mark.

READ ALSO: Ndume apologises to APC for criticising Tinubu

When the All Progressives Congress (APC) was formed in 2013, Mr Ndume and a few others dumped the PDP for the newly formed APC.

Some of those who defected then were Mr Saraki, former Kwara governor Sha’aba Lafiagi, former Adamawa governor Bindow Jibrilla, and former Gombe governor Danjuma Goje. They all cited alleged injustices as the major reason for their exit.

After joining APC, Mr Ndume remained vibrant and active in national politics. He contested re-election into the Senate in 2015 under the platform of APC and won again.

Despite his removal as Senate Leader, he remained active in the Senate and national politics. He contested the election again in 2019 and returned to the 9th Assembly.

He contested the senate presidency during the inauguration but lost to Ahmad Lawan, who presided over the upper chamber until 2023.

He contested the general election again in 2023 and returned to the 10th Assembly. He played a significant role in the emergence of Godswill Akpabio as the senate president. He was the director-general of Mr Akpabio’s campaign team and successfully coordinated the election.

He was subsequently compensated with the position of the Senate chief whip, which he occupied for one year before he was removed for criticising the Tinubu administration, in which his fellow Borno man, Kashim Shettima, serves as number two.

R-L: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shaking hands with Vice President Kashim Shettima (PHOTO CREDIT: X @GovBorno)

If there were a book on Nigerian lawmakers with “rebellious” characters, Borno South senator Ali Ndume would undoubtedly occupy a prominent place. If the book is written, it would narrate how the senator managed punishments arising from his outspoken and “combative” approach to politics.

Since becoming a lawmaker 21 years ago, the former lecturer has been in the news for being blunt and combative. He dares to tread where others fear and may remain so if his recent apology to his party does not humble him.

If anything, Mr Ndume has consistently linked his ordeals as an “act of God” and that he bears no grudges against those who plotted his ousting from office.