Time to recall Senator Ali Ndume
It has been nearly three months since Senator Ali Ndume was suspended by the President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki. Ndume you would recall was suspended because of his call on the Senate to investigate the twin cases of the Senate President’s alleged circumvention of the payment of correct import duty on a luxury Range Rover car he purchased as well as the question of whether Dino Melaye had truly graduated from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU).
Shortly after Ndume’s motion, Senator Bukola Saraki requested the Senate Committee on Ethics to examine the two matters. At the end of its sitting, the committee exonerated Saraki. Regarding the Dino issue, the committee summoned the university’s Vice Chancellor and he declared that Dino indeed graduated from ABU. No sooner were these two issues resolved in their favour than Saraki engineered the suspension of Senator Ndume.
The loud call for the reinstatement of Senator Ndume by the Borno state governor and other leaders from the area has fallen on deaf ears; instead we hear that Senator Ndume has been asked to apologise to Saraki and Dino Melaye as a pre-condition for his resumption at the Senate. Ndume has since replied, rightfully, that he would not apologise to anybody because he had not committed any offence. He said that it was normal to request the Senate to clear its leadership of complicity in scandals in order to maintain some modicum of credibility and his motion was aimed at neutralising the negative impact that the purchase of the luxury vehicle by Saraki was having on the upper chamber. However, Saraki and Dino took it personal, hence they manoeuvred to suspend Ndume.
Nonetheless, Ali Ndume has remained unruffled, he continues to go around his constituency, interacting with the people and assisting them. Ndume has also refused to go to court, even though a previous ruling in similar case had ended up in favour of the complainant. He’s bearing the burden of his suspension with dignity.
Bukola Saraki’s suspension of Ali Ndume is ill-motivated and smacks of intolerance and malice. If Saraki and Dino feel no moral guilt of what they have been accused by the public and have sincerely been cleared of wrongdoing, then there would have been no need to suspend Ndume for merely facilitating the clearance. In other words, if Saraki truly carries clear conscience over the matter, then he needed not to support or endorse a whopping 180-day suspension of Senator Ali Ndume.
Many people are of the opinion that Ndume’s demand for the investigation of the Saraki and Melaye matters constitutes no misconduct that would warrant a 6-month suspension of a Senator. Apart from depriving his constituents the much needed representation, it sends loud signal that Saraki’s insalubrious grip on the Senate does not augur well for free flow of opinions and quality debate in that chamber. Times without number, Saraki has muzzled some of his colleagues by either refusing to allow them to speak or ruling them out of order.
Be that as it may, if there is anybody that should be suspended forthwith from the Senate, it is Dino Jushua Melaye, Bukola Saraki’s handbag. Dino lacks the temperament to sit in the Senate and debate except he insults and uses intemperate language. Dino has gone to the Senate too early. Whether in terms of his infantile altercation with Senator Oluremi Tinubu, or his needless confrontation with Colonel Hamid Ali (rtd), the Comptroller General of Customs or his conduct outside the chamber, Dino Melaye is shamefully unsuitable for the job of a Senator. He’s too noisy, he’s too illogical and he’s downright egoistic and unreasonable. He just doesn’t cut the picture of a mature, level headed and rational human being. He is such a saucy fellow.
No wonder, he’s being recalled by voters in Kabba and Ijumu and the rest of his constituency. After he arrogantly said no shaking, he is now panicking and has rushed to the court to stop his recall. But Dino is one fellow Nigerians would like to see being made jobless. He has no job anyway, he is a full time politician, he makes his entire money from politics and make no mistake about it, if Dino is recalled from the Senate and kept out of political appointment, poverty will humble him. Every time he found himself in the House of Representatives or Senate, Dino has grovelled at the feet of the Speaker or the Senate President in order to head a juicy committee or offered his physique as a fawning bodyguard to them.
No digression: Ali Ndume is a brilliant, hardworking, simple and amiable Senator whose sensible voice is missing in the Senate. If respected Senators like Yahaya Abdullahi, Sola Adeyeye, Barnabas Gemade, George Akume, etc., cannot help do away with such irritant called Dino Melaye, they should kindly facilitate the recall of Senator Ali Ndume who is way ahead of him in terms of comportment.
In the meantime, a lot of Nigerians are of the firm belief that Senator Ndume’s troubled constituency needs his continuous intervention in the Senate considering the mindless destruction of lives and property taking place in their land. Bukola Saraki’s vendetta against Ndume is way over the top and is affecting people in urgent need of succour. It is time to reconcile the tendencies, recall Senator Ali Ndume to the Senate and close this nauseating battle of supremacy.