A planned recall of Ali Ndume, lawmaker representing Borno south senatorial district, crumbled on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 as the Senate concluded plenary without mentioning the issue.
Quoting a source in the National Assembly, the News Agency of Nigeria said the upper legislative chamber had intended to recall Ndume at plenary.
According to him, the senate took the position to hold the recall of the suspended senator because it could not be intimidated by protests.
However, the source did not specify for how long the upper legislative chamber would shelve its plan.
The protesters had given the national assembly a three-day ultimatum to recall Ndume.
They barricaded the main entrance to the national assembly as early as 8am, calling for the removal of Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Midway into plenary on Tuesday, the senate had gone into an emergency closed door session which lasted for about 40 minutes.
The protesters, who came under different groups, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), chanted pro-Ndume songs.
They also carried placards with different inscriptions such as ’Ndume again Insha Allah’, ‘Who is Afraid of Ibrahim Magu?’, ‘Stop undermining PMB’ and ‘Saraki is a curse’.
One of the leaders of the groups, Joseph Okwuama told reporters that if the lawmaker was not recalled, they would stage several protests across the federal capital territory (FCT) for seven days.
Okwuama, who is the national coordinator, All Progressives Congress (APC) movement, said the suspension of Ndume was uncalled for.
“We are talking about corruption in the country. As Nigerian youths, we have to work together in support of the anti-corruption war,” he said.
“Corruption is not all about money. What the National Assembly did is corruption. The suspension of Ndume is corruption.
“Ndume’s suspension did not follow due process. The man did not do anything.
Ali Ndume Tried To Pay Us To Protest – IDPs Say
A group of protesters on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, stormed the National Assembly in support for Ali Ndume, a senator from Borno State, who was suspended from the Senate over making false allegation against his colleagues.
But, the crowd went haywire after a fight over money broke out among the all-male protesters who are, allegedly, rented from Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps in Borno State.
According to an eyewitness, “tension broke out after the protesters found that some ringleaders had made away with the money the group was paid to stage the event”.
But the fight for cash is not the big story of the day, at a different venue, residents of IDP camps exposed that not only did Senator Ndume attempt to hire IDPs for the protests, but that he was rebuffed by the people who believe that he deserves his fate.
In a video, obtained by Nigeria News Hub, a spokesperson for the group confirmed that IDPs were rented for the protest at the National Assembly. The spokesperson also revealed that not only did they (the people in the video), refuse to be bought for the protest, but they actually praised the leadership and philanthropy of Senator Dino Melaye. You may watch the video below:
The protesters were demanding the reinstatement of Ndume, who is on a 6-month suspension. They blocked the entrance of the National Assembly Complex and were holding banners and placards with Ndume’s pictures and messages to the Senate.
The suspension of Senator Ali Ndume, announced on March 29, 2017, was based on the report of the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions which recommended that the senator be suspended.
Ndume had asked the Senate to look into the allegations of vehicle importation against the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki and the alleged certificate forgery against Sen. Dino Melaye.
Ali Ndume Linked To Boko Haram
Ali Ndume is also standing trial for his involvement with the Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram. Commandants of the terrorist group had named him as a sponsor of the group’s activities including providing golf cars for bombing operations.
During the trial, which is still on-going, a witness from the secret police told the court that investigators found that Ndume contacted a spokesperson of Boko Haram 73 times in one month. The senator has denied the charges which contravened Sections 3(b), 4(1) (a) and 7(1) (b) of the Terrorism Prevention Act.
In September 2016, a self-confessed spokesman of the Boko Haram, Ali Sanda Umar Konduga, a.k.a Al-Zawahiri, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment without option of fine and released from prison, was rearrested at the residence of Senator Ndume in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
A police officer who pleaded anonymity, said Konduga was identified, beaten and rearrested on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 after sneaking into the senator’s house the third time since last Sunday, September 11, this year.
Konduga, according to family sources, “kept on coming to the senator’s house purposely to apologise to the immediate family for indicting Ndume, who was charged for providing Konduga with politicians’ phone numbers and not disclosing information to authorities under Nigeria’s Terrorism Prevention Act.”
Additional reports by NAN.
