Southern Borno leaders protest Ndume’s removal as Senate Majority Whip

• Kinsmen pleads with Tinubu, Akpabio to reinstate long serving senator

Political leaders from Southern Borno yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Abuja to register their displeasure over the removal of Senator Ali Ndume as Majority Whip.

Ndume was recently removed as Majority Whip following complaints by leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) over his comments in an interview that the party considered distasteful.

The protesters, under the aegis of Southern Borno Development Association (SBDA), stormed the Unity Fountain with placards bearing inscriptions calling for justice, fairness and Ndume’s.

Leader of the group and Secretary of the SBDA, Muhammad Biu, claimed that Ndume was not given a fair hearing before he was sacked. He called on President Bola Tinubu and Senator Godswill Akpabio to temper justice with mercy and reinstate Ndume, who is their major benefactor.

He said: “We express our displeasure over the sack of Senator Ndume. We feel Ndume was not given a fair hearing, and what he said is not new because other senators of the APC have also expressed similar views on the floor of the Senate.

“Everybody knows Senator Ndume will be frank on all issues that concern Nigerians and he gave the president suggestions on what to do. The president, being a listening president, has started implementing the advice because as evident by current actions on the minimum wage.

“Senator Ndume’s position as the Majority Whip is the only position that Southern Borno has in the National Assembly, and even at the federal level. So we feel short-changed by his removal. We therefore appeal to the Senate to reconsider their decisions, taking into consideration the contributions of Senator Ndume in the National Assembly in the last 20 years.

“He has been a dogged Senator who believes in the rule of law and has contributed immensely even to the emergence of the present Senate leadership.

“We therefore appeal passionately to President Tinubu, Senate President Akpabio and other senators, to reconsider this decision in the interest of fairness and justice.

“We particularly appeal to Senate Akpabio not to throw the baby away with the bath water. Senator Ndume is a beacon in the Senate and everybody knows that. So we are appealing to the Senate to reconsider its decision.”