The ruling All Progressives Congress has begun consultations with the leadership of the Senate to facilitate the reinstatement of Senator Ali Ndume as the Chief Whip.
The move comes one month after Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District, was relieved of the position for repeated public criticisms of President Bola Tinubu and the ruling APC.
The Borno lawmaker claimed that the President had been caged and shielded from feeling the hardships Nigerians were passing through, an action that irked the ruling party.
Ndume was immediately replaced by the senator representing Borno North, Tahir Monguno, following a directive issued to that effect in a letter written by the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, and National Secretary, Senator Basiru Ajibola.
The request was put to voice votes by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and loudly affirmed by all the APC senators.
Last Tuesday, a sober-looking Ndume told journalists after a two-hour closed-door meeting with the National Working Committee in Abuja that he had tendered an unreserved apology to the APC.
Confirming the development, the APC National Chairman, Ganduje, said Ndume’s apology was accepted, describing the situation as a family affair.
“We are writing to the National Assembly to convey what has transpired between Senator Ndume and the party. As you are aware, he has apologised to the party with the hope that they can review their position,” Ganduje said.
Three days after the meeting, a source at the party secretariat, who craved anonymity, told our reporter that the party had opened discussions with the leadership of the Senate to review Ndume’s removal as the Chief Whip.
“Just as the national chairman stated on Tuesday, the APC has begun consultation with the Senate leadership. As he rightly said the other day, it is a family issue,” the source said.
When contacted, the Deputy National Organising Secretary of the APC, Nze Chidi Duru, confirmed the ongoing consultation, which, he said, might not necessarily be conducted in public.
Duru, however, said the onus was on the Senate leadership to decide if it was the right call.
According to him, the APC is a law-abiding party that is willing to welcome back prodigal and erring members once they are willing to retrace their steps and abide by the party’s Constitution.
He said, “It is for us to recommend to the Senate to do the needful. I believe they are all party members who respect the APC. It is on account of that, when the party felt there was something wrong in the way he addressed the public without allowing the party to hear him out, that we took the steps that we took.
