Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South senatorial district, has voiced his growing dissatisfaction with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the direction of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), warning that he may consider leaving the party if the president fails to address Nigeria’s mounting challenges.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Ndume expressed frustration with the current state of governance under Tinubu, stating that the president still has time to correct course but failure to do so may push him to exit the APC.
“I still believe President Tinubu can fix things. Failure to fix those things may cause me to leave the APC,” he said.
“If I decide to leave the APC, I will not hide it.”
Ndume, who has become an increasingly vocal critic of the administration in recent months, also cautioned that the influx of politicians defecting to the APC could destabilise the party.
“If Tinubu continues this way, it doesn’t matter if he loads more people or governors; you are just endangering APC. When you overload a ship, it might lead to the capsizing of the party.”
The senator also took the opportunity to comment on the ongoing rift between President Tinubu and former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai. Ndume suggested that El-Rufai’s current disillusionment with the administration might be rooted in events leading up to the 2023 presidential primaries.
Recalling his time as Director-General of the Rotimi Amaechi presidential campaign, Ndume said El-Rufai was initially aligned with Amaechi before unexpectedly switching allegiance to Tinubu ahead of the APC primaries.
“El-Rufai was supposed to be on our side, but somehow, he moved over. And I think these are part of the things that are annoying or frustrating him,” Ndume said.
“He really mobilised for Tinubu, did a lot. Tinubu even asked him to join the government, but up till now, I don’t understand what happened between them.”
Ndume added that while he holds no grudge, he sometimes sees the current fallout between Tinubu and El-Rufai as a form of political karma.
“Sometimes I’ll say, ‘Okay o, you did that to us, it’s payback to yourself.’”
El-Rufai was nominated by Tinubu for a ministerial post following his election victory but was ultimately rejected. He has since left the APC and is now a prominent figure in the opposition, aligning with the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
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