Parliamentary Coup: Senate sacks Ndume as Majority Whip, appoints Monguno

…as APC national leadership demands his replacement over inciting utterances against Tinubu’s govt

…strips him of Appropriation Committee deputy chairmanship position

By Tunde Opalana

In a seeming parliamentary coup, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC Borno North), was on Wednesday, relieved of his position as Majority Whip of the Senate. He was replaced with Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno who represents Borno North.

The Senate acted on a letter from the National Working Committee of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) requesting Ndume sack for alleged inciting utterances in recent times capable of undermining the President Bola Tinubu- led administration.

Hinging its accusation on Ndume’s comment on a television programme where he was said to have alleged that the Tinubu’s government is being run by “thieves”, the party said such uncouth statement is harmful to the administration and subversive to the unity of the nation.

The APC in the letter jointly signed by the national chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje and national secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru not only demanded that the APC Caucus in the Senate take action against him, but went ahead to demand the termination of his position as a principal officer and named Senator Tahir Monguno as his replacement.

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The letter read during plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio read:

“I’m writing on behalf of the National Working Committee of our great party to express our displeasure, our outrage and our deep disappointment at the unbecoming, unfounded and baseless criticism of the government and the party, the APC by your majority whip of the Senate, Sen. Ali Ndume as a member of the ruling party. We expected a much more responsible and decorous behaviour from him. But this has not been the case.

“His uncouth and rabid outbursts against the governments, before the international and before the global community is not only harmful to the government’s image alone but also undermines the party’s unity and cohesion and in addition, undermines the government’s effort to bring in foreign direct investments to Nigeria.

“As he is a ranking member of our party, his actions are unbecoming of a senior member of the Senate and sets a very poor example for others in future to follow.

“His latest tirade on air, during a programme on Arise Television where he referred to the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, commander-in-chief as being run by thieves, portrays Ali Ndume as a person who is bent on running the country down and running the party aground through incitements and chief propaganda.

“We have reviewed that Sen. Ali Ndume should honourably resign the membership of APC and join any opposition party of his choice formally instead of hiding behind the veil of grass activism to decimate the hard earned cohesion and goodwill that our party, the APC, is enjoying within and outside the country.

“His utterances which are sheer propaganda are not based on verifiable facts are unbecoming of a member of the APC caucus of the Senate of the National Assembly.

“And it therefore behooves on the APC caucus to bring this to the attention of its members for necessary actions to curtail his deliberate mission to undermine the government and the party and the progress of Nigerians particularly those appointed by Mr President to work against his administration.

“We therefore urge the Senate caucus to take appropriate steps to address this issue and ensure that members of the Senate, particularly those within the All Progressives Congress, hold and maintain decorum in their public utterances.

“Accordingly, we realise that the position of the whip of the senate belongs to our party and we are not opposed to whatever petition the members of the APC caucus in the senate may have, but we are of the opinion that distinguished senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno should immediately replace distinguished Sen. Ali Ndume who is bent on bringing down the country as the majority whip of the Senate.”

Without a recourse to the Senate APC Caucus as suggested in the letter, Akpabio straight away put the party’s demand into question.

Akpabio asked those in support of the position of the party to say “aye” and those against it to say nay and “ayes” carried the day.

Efforts by Senator Cyril Fasuyi (Ekiti North) to subject Ndume to questioning by the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges did not scale through.

Fasuyi, who rose on Orders 40 and 41 in a point of order, said his privilege as a senator was breached by Ndume’s allegation of kleptomaniac by all public officials in Tinubu’s government.

The Ekiti lawmaker lamented that his relatives at home and abroad called him to seek clarification on Ndume’s allegation.

He, therefore, demanded that the Borno senator should be made to face a panel where he is expected to provide evidence to substantiate his allegation.

Giving Ndume a soft landing, senators st plenary did not respond to Akpabio’s question on Fasuyi’s prayer.

Fallout from the change in guard, Senator Ndume lost his position as deputy chairman of the Appropriation Committee to Monguno, the new Majority Whip.

The Senate leadership went ahead to announce changes in chairmanship of a few of the Committees.

In the list read out by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Ali Ndume now chairs the Committee on Tourism.

The Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters previously headed by Senator Monguno was allocated to Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire (Ondo Central) a Senior Advocate.

New chairmen of committees are; Ali Ndume, Tourism, Ned Nwoko, Repatriation and National Integration.

The Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation “in line with the earlier practice, lies with Tahir Monguno”, in addition to the Chief Whip of the Senate and the Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Tourism is Senator Anthony Ani, Akpabio said.

“In the spirit of togetherness and forgiveness, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) returns to his position as Chairman of Senate Committee on Population”, while the Chairman Senate Committee on Agricultural Institutions is Senator Solomon Lalong.