Ali Ndume rebuffs Tinubu's attempt to get him to drop his senate president ambition

ATTEMPTS by the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to get Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South Senatorial District to ditch his plans to become senate president have failed after he rebuffed overtures from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

On May 29, the new National Assembly will be inaugurated and its first task will be to elect new leaders including the senate president, deputy senate president, speaker of the House of Representatives and his deputy. APC leaders have zoned the position of senate president to the northeast and agreed upon Senator Ahmad Lawan from Yobe North Senatorial District as their candidate.

However, he faces challenges from Senators Ndume and Danjuma Goje from Gombe Central Senatorial District, both of whom are also from the northeast. Many members of the newly elected senate are also opposed to the idea of a senate president being forced upon them, so Senator Ndume's candidature is gaining in popularity because Senator Lawan is seen as a government imposition.

To make matters worse for Senator Lawan, the 40 or so senators elected on the platform of the main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are unlikely to vote for him. Their block of votes in the 109 assembly is a sizable chunk, prompting APC leaders to ask Senator Ndume to stand down to avoid splitting their vote.

However, Senator Ndume has rejected moves by Asiwaju Tinubu to get him to drop his ambition after a team of pro-Lawan senators-elect visited him in Maiduguri on Friday. They were also unable to meet with Borno State governor Kashim Shettima, also a senator-elect, who was not around having travelled out of the country.

One senator on the entourage said: “The governor, who was probably aware of the pro-Lawan senators’ visit, travelled out of the country before their arrival. The lawmakers decided to meet the deputy governor, who is not a stakeholder in the project but during the brief session, the deputy governor told the lawmakers that Governor Shettima had travelled to Saudi Arabia.”

One source close to Senator Lawan, said, however  that 13 senators including were in Maiduguri for the wedding of his niece and to condole with the family over the death of her father.  Some of the senators-elect on the trip included Abdullahi, Bala Na’Allah, Jibril Barau, Ifeanyi Ubah, Opeyemi Bamidele, Adamu Aliero, Adeola Olamilekan and Musa Sani.

“Anybody telling you such fake story is a liar as our mission to Maiduguri was not to meet Governor Shettima. We actually went there for the wedding of someone who is like Senator Lawan’s daughter, his little niece.

“We also seized the opportunity to condole with the family of the young lady who lost her father. The deputy governor was with us throughout the visit up to the airport when he returned when we boarded our aircraft,” the source said.

Asiwaju Tinubu has been quoted as saying those not in support of the APC's zoning arrangement for the National Assembly positions were free to leave the party. Speculation is rife that the party may expel any member who decides to move against its stand on the leadership of the National Assembly.