Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) has told President Bola Tinubu to stop surrounding himself with loyalists who cannot speak honestly. He said Tinubu must open his ears to the truth if he wants to lead well.
“You don’t form your government with dependents,” Ndume said during a live interview. “And worst of all, is that the president was a kingmaker. So when a kingmaker becomes a king, then there is a problem which he must identify by himself.”
He warned that the president now has few honest voices around him. “This is now what is lacking in this government,” he said. “And I still stand on it until there is a change, that this is a government of ‘Kakistocrats’ and kleptocrats.”
Ndume said Tinubu filled his cabinet with people who won’t challenge him. According to him, this threatens the entire country’s future.
He also criticised the way the Tinubu government treated former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai. He believes the former governor got what he deserved after abandoning the group that supported former Rivers State governor, Rotimi Amaechi, during the APC presidential primaries.
“Tinubu Ignored Us After Promising Unity”
Ndume recalled how Tinubu promised to work with Amaechi’s camp after winning the APC ticket. “We had 315 votes. We gave them a good fight,” he said. “And then after that, we thought things would go on fine.”
He explained that Tinubu reached out and even scheduled a meeting with him and Amaechi. “So we agreed,” he said. “And then we agreed that we will meet after I come back [from Hajj]. And that meeting did not hold. That was how they abandoned Amaechi.”
Ndume said Amaechi still supported Tinubu after the primaries and joined the Presidential Campaign Council. “El-Rufai was supposed to be on our side,” he added, “but somehow he moved over. And I think this is part of the things that are annoying him or frustrating him.”
Ndume said el-Rufai had played a major role during the campaign and deserved better treatment. “I cannot understand, up to now,” he said, “El-Rufai came to the chamber and we asked him to take a bow and go or even to just lay out some plans. I’m not Erufai’s fan or friend or anything, but the truth must be told. You see, that was where Mr. President got it wrong.”
National Assembly Has Become a Rubber Stamp
The fearless Borno Senator said Nigeria’s National Assembly no longer serves its proper function. “It has become less democratic,” he said. “We are more of an approving institution.”
He described the Senate as weak and unable to question the executive. “We are just giving unnecessary support to the executive,” he said. “Government has to some extent now been personalised and privatised.”
The senator also spoke about recent errors in government announcements, including the June 12 honouree list that wrongly gave posthumous honours to living people. “Look at what they did now. Embarrassing Mr. President when he honoured some people. They honoured a living man posthumously,” he said.
“If I was the president, whoever is responsible for that, I will fire him and get somebody that knows the job.”
On ECOWAS, Security, and the Future of APC
Ndume said Tinubu’s performance as ECOWAS chairman was poor. “Honestly, that is an area where…the president lost it when he was the chairman,” he said. According to him, the withdrawal of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso from ECOWAS was partly due to weak leadership and missed diplomatic chances.
“Rather than using Nigeria’s elder statesmen for diplomacy, the president remained insulated by his close circle,” he said. This, he warned, has worsened insecurity in Nigeria’s border regions.
Ndume warned that APC may not survive if it continues accepting every defector. “Jumping ship without ideology or conviction weakens our democracy and endangers the future of the country,” he said.
Though still a member of the ruling party, he admitted he may not remain forever. “I still believe this president has the capacity to fix things,” he said. “But if nothing changes, I will have to reconsider. I will not go down with a sinking ship.”
He said while he has changed parties in the past, it was never for gain. “I have a duty to my conscience and my country and I will speak out, even if I stand alone.”
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