Senate Now Puppet In The Hand Of President – Atiku, On Removal Of Ndume As Chief Whip

By Ayodele Oni

Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar has accused the national assembly of condoling the recklessness of the executive arm of government.

Reacting to the removal of Ali Ndume as Chief Whip of the senate for criticizing President Bola Tinubu, he stated that it was unfortunate that senators were being sanctioned for performing their statutory duties.

Atiku, who also cited Senator Abdul Ningi’s suspension earlier this year over claims of budget padding, said the health of Nigeria’s democracy is being compromised by the unholy alliance between the executive and the legislature which portends to a dictatorship.

This decision  to remove Ndume and replace him with Mohammed Monguno, was conveyed through a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, signed by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, and the National Secretary, Ajibola Bashiru.

The letter, titled “Complaints Against the Unbecoming Utterances of Sen. Ali Ndume,” was read by Akpabio during the plenary session.

He pointed out that the Legislative arm of Government was conceived as a means of protecting the people from the authoritarian tendencies of wielders of state powers by ensuring the executive does not go overboard in the application of its powers.

“Regrettably, however, the democracy in Nigeria in the current administration of President Bola Tinubu has become an anathema to that general principle of democracy as providing primary protection for the people against executive excesses

“This ugly tendency is being manifested by the steady posturing of our National Assembly, especially the Senate, of taking a reverse course in its core function and becoming a puppet in the hands of the President.

“It is uncharitable that whenever members of the Senate stand on the floor of the red chamber to perform their statutory duty of calling the executive to order, they are immediately reprimanded for doing so.

“When Senator Abdul Ningi called attention of the country to the incident of budget padding in the 2024 Appropriation bill, rather than calling for a thorough investigation into the observation, the reaction of the Senate was to hand him a suspension.

“Only yesterday, Senator Ali Ndume called for the President to wake up to his responsibilities and provide succour to address the biting hunger and poverty in the country.

“Ironically, the response of the @NGRSenate to his patriotic warning is to relieve him of his principal office as the Chief Whip of the Senate.”

Atiku emphasized that there has been persistent solicitations for Government to put its priorities on canceling the excruciating hardship in the land and suspend plans of spending scarce resources on the purchase of new aircraft for the presidential fleet.

“The Senate took a stand against the people and ignored the voices of altruism by decorating the President with controversial purchases of an aircraft and a yacht amidst the worst material conditions of the average citizen in the history of our country.

“We are, therefore, beginning to see a pattern in which the National Assembly has become an enabler of executive recklessness, and the concerns of the people stand in the nadir of priority list of the legislature.

“This emerging reality must stop. The health of our democracy is being compromised by this unholy alliance between the executive and the legislature and portends a dictatorship that will worsen the lot of the people,”