I’m more experienced than Akpabio, Ndume claims, faults Senate President for ruling him out of order

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Ali Ndume, has claimed superiority over the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio when it comes to legislative experience.

Ndume, who made the claim spoke when he appeared on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, faulting Akpabio for ruling him out of order, declaring “you don’t rule your chief whip out of order.”

The Borno Senator was first elected to the Senate in 2011, while Akpabio was first elected into the senate in 2015.

Ripples Nigeria reports that Ndume had tried to draw the attention of the senate president to the rule book on the management of a crisis — but Akpabio was having none of it and ruled him out of order.

Explaining why he walked out of the red chamber after Akpabio ruled him out of order, Ndume said: “My problem is the way he handled the situation and what happened the last time was misunderstood or taken out of context. Don’t forget that I fought here, campaigned for Akpabio. You can’t build a house and destroy it.

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“The main problem is that I’m more experienced than him. When I tried to correct him… you don’t overrule your chief whip.

“At that time, he was supposed to invite me then we would talk more one-on-one but he took advantage of the gavel and it was 12:30 pm and I needed to go and pray.”

Speaking on the rot in the judiciary as disclosed by the retired justice of the Supreme Court, Musa Dattijo, Ndume called on President Bola Tinubu to send a bill to the national assembly on unexplained wealth, but in the interim, he should sign an executive order to curb the malaise.

“I think the best way to get this across is when the bill comes from the executive or in the interim, the current president should sign an executive bill on unexplained wealth.”

On the controversial purchase of luxury vehicles by members of the National Assembly, Ndume said his colleagues are opting for Land Cruiser sport utility vehicles (SUVs) because they want cars that are “stable” and safe.

According to him, lawmakers need vehicles to perform their duties.

“Over the years, that cost is going up. We had 406 but it did not serve the purpose.

“In 2007, we went for Prado, that Prado was the least expensive of all jeeps, if you remember that time. I think we lost two senators because of the instability of the vehicle, that was why they went for a Land Cruiser.”

He, however, added that the national assembly administration should be in charge of procuring the vehicles and not the lawmakers.

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