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The ruling All Progressives Congress advised the former Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, to reach President Bola Tinubu privately with his advice instead of criticising the government’s policies or actions publicly.
The National Publicity Director of the APC, Bala Ibrahim, who gave the advice on Sunday in an interview with The PUNCH, said as much as everybody had a right to air their opinion in a democracy, bigwigs like Ndume should seek to weigh their words before going public.
Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, had called on the President to tackle the hardship suffered by citizens before it was too late.
In a statement released in Abuja on Friday, Ndume claimed that certain bad actors close to Tinubu were responsible for pushing harmful reforms and policies which are aimed at destabilising the government.
“Those who are bent on making the President look bad will stop at nothing in inflicting pain on Nigerians through the so-called reforms until things get out of hand, and the blame will be on President Tinubu,” he stated.
The senator also advised the Tinubu administration to address the suffering caused by hyperinflation, which has been worsened by the frequent price hikes of essential goods and services.
Ndume’s latest intervention comes only months after the APC wrote the Senate to relieve him of his position as the Senate Chief Whip over his relentless public criticisms of President Tinubu and the ruling APC, a party to which he belongs.
He would later apologise and was pardoned by the APC, which requested that the Senate should restore him as the Chief Whip. The Senate has yet to restore Ndume as the Chief Whip.
Asked on Sunday if the ruling APC was concerned about Ndume’s latest public advice to the President, the APC National Publicity Director, Ibrahim, said Ndume needed to tread with caution.
He said, “In a democracy, people have the right to own opinion and ventilate their positions without anyone suppressing it. Ali Ndume is one of the President’s advisers at large. If you happen to belong to the same party as the President, you must share certain things with him because he is working on the policies or agenda of the party.
“As a senior party member, a legislator and former Chief whip for that matter, Ndume is an adviser by extension to all the leaders in our party. Therefore, he has ways of reaching out to them in private without necessarily going public. People must take note of their position and the fact that they have followers who will go to an extent to assess them based on what they say or do.
“Many people hold Ndume in high esteem. So he must always weigh his words for fear of being misquoted or misinterpreted. But I want to believe he is doing so in good faith. Whether the APC is disappointed or will consider any sanction in a decision to be taken by the party.”
The development comes three months after Ndume was relieved of the Chief Whip position for embarrassing the President on a live programme on Arise TV.
The Borno lawmaker claimed that Tinubu had been caged and prevented from knowing the hardships Nigerians were passing through, an action that irked the ruling party.
He was immediately replaced by the Senator representing Borno North, Tahir Monguno following a directive issued to that effect in a letter written by the National Chairman of the party, Umar Ganduje and National Secretary, Senator Bashir Ajibola.
The request was put to voice votes by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and loudly affirmed by all the APC senators.
But a sober-looking Ndume told journalists after a two-hour closed-door meeting with the APC National Working Committee in Abuja two months ago that he has apologised to the party leadership.
