Borno Senator, Ali Ndume, who was removed as Senate
Majority Leader on Tuesday, has revealed why he was ousted.
The president of the Senate, Bukola Saraki,
announced Mr. Ndume’s removal shortly before the upper legislative chamber
adjourned on Tuesday.
Mr. Saraki read a letter from the All Progressives
Congress caucus asking for leadership change.
Mr. Ndume had stepped out of the chamber to observe
his early afternoon prayer when Mr. Saraki read
the letter.
The APC caucus, Mr. Saraki said, also chose Ahmed
Lawan to replace Mr. Ndume.
Mr. Lawan was until his new role the chairman of
the Senate committee on defence, a position he assumed after losing the June
2015 senate presidency election to Mr. Saraki.
But speaking exclusively with PREMIUM TIMES hours
after his removal on Tuesday, Mr. Ndume said he was removed for insisting that
the Senate did not follow the proper procedure before declaring that it had
rejected the nomination of Ibrahim Magu as head of the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Mr. Ndume said he insisted that in view of the
Senate’s standard procedures and practice, Mr. Magu had not been rejected by
the Senate because there was no confirmation hearing for the nominee to defend
claims made against him.
“What I said was that for us
(Senate) to claim to have a rejected a nominee sent to us by the president, we
have to follow the right procedure, and observe our rules,” the senator said.
“The nominee should have
been called into the chamber and presented before senators who will then openly
vote on whether to accept or reject his or her nomination.
“In the case of Magu, that
was not done. We only had a closed-door session and when we emerged the
Senate
spokesperson claimed that he had been rejected. I had to set the record
straight by saying we never rejected the nominee. This is because you don’t
accept or reject a nominee at a closed session.
Öur votes and proceedings
are there as evidence of my claims.”
Mr. Ndume said the
clarification he made unsettled some of his colleagues, who immediately began
to plot against him.
“Ï was surprised that such
a simple and harmless clarification could rattle and anger some of my
colleagues,” he said. I thought it wasn’t a big deal to disagree over issues. I
didn’t realise that that simple matter would snowball into a plot to remove me.
“The other day, somebody
mentioned to me that the Senate President had commissioned Dino Melaye to
collect signatures to remove me. I didn’t pay much attention to the information
because I actually thought it was a joke or a rumour.
“I didn’t feel that
disagreeing with colleagues, and sharing my understanding of what transpired at
our closed session was an offence, grievous enough to cause my removal.”
Messrs. Magu and Ndume hail
from the same northeastern state of Borno.
Mr. Magu’s rejection
followed a report sent to the Senate by the State Security Service which
accused the acting EFCC chairman of corruption.
But there was also another
report by the SSS which advised that Mr. Magu be confirmed in view of his
sterling performance since he started working in acting capacity.
A senator familiar with the
matter said Mr. Ndume especially angered Mr. Saraki when he asked why he guided
members to act on the report advising against Mr. Magu’s confirmation, while
ignoring the one which urged that he should be cleared for the office.
Mr. Ndume reportedly argued
that what the Senate should have done was to call attention to the two security
reports, and then ask the president whether to continue with the confirmation
process or not.
Meanwhile, Kabiru Marafa,
an ally of Mr. Lawan, the new majority leader, hailed the leadership change as
“victory for APC”, saying the party had long wanted Mr. Lawan to serve as
Senate Leader following the crisis sparked by Mr. Saraki’s emergence.
He told PREMIUM TIMES that
there was a caucus meeting on Monday during which the decision to remove Mr.
Ndume was taken.
Asked when and where the
meeting held, he said he was not present but that a letter said to have been
generated there was brought to him to sign before plenary commenced on Tuesday.
Mr. Marafa, who said the
APC caucus agreed to allow Bala Na’Allah continue as Deputy Leader, added that
he was looking forward to Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President, who is a
member of the Peoples Democratic Party, decamping to the ruling party.
“The more the merrier,” he
said, adding, “Ekweremadu is my friend, brother, boss and leader and enjoy good
working relationship with him.”
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