Ndume insists Tinubu is inaccessible, cites personal experience

Former Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, despite his removal from the office has continued to speak out against what he feels are abnormalities in the present administration.

The Borno senator on Monday, reaffirmed his claim that President Bola Tinubu is inaccessible to lawmakers and party chieftains.

Ndume was sacked last Wednesday and replaced by Senator Tahir Monguno, following a directive from the All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Umar Ganduje, and national secretary, Senator Bashir Ajibola.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Ndume revealed that he made concerted efforts to meet with the President, writing several letters to request an audience, but was unsuccessful.

He emphasized that his complaints about the President’s inaccessibility were not baseless, but rather a result of his personal experience.

Ndume’s removal as Chief Whip was reportedly due to his public comments about the President’s accessibility.

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However, he maintains that he has no grudge and is focused on moving forward, particularly in addressing security challenges in the country.

He acknowledged some improvements in security in certain areas but stressed that collective effort is necessary to effectively tackle the issue.

He said, “I can tell you that one of the major issues I had that led to my removal as the Chief Whip (of the Senate) was my complaint that the President is not very accessible. If he is accessible, we would have told him this in a closed door, not on TV. But I can tell you that I made an effort for myself. I made several efforts. I wrote several times so that we can discuss some of these things. I didn’t have the chance.

“But I have no grudge now that we don’t have any communication. But definitely, we are moving forward in terms of security in one area. In other areas like Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina and Kaduna, I can’t speak much about it. But we know that the security challenges are still there, even recently. What I am saying is that security matters are a collective matter. Everybody should come out and talk about it.

“Everybody should do and say something so that we can bring it to an end. The earlier we keep on deceiving ourselves that it’s all over, we will not get control.

“But so far, I can’t say the government is not doing anything. They are investing in it. Like in my place, as I said, I can talk about Gwoza where I slept. I did not sleep with the soldiers in my house or roaming around. That means there is improvement in Gwoza.”

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