The senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, has revealed that former President Muhammadu Buhari was not in charge of his eight-year administration and failed to play a supervisory role, unlike incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ndume who maintained that some kleptocrats were in the immediate past administration spoke at a Channels Television programme on Friday, December 1, 2023.
“The President here is in charge. He takes charge, unlike our former President. That President will just give you an assignment, he will not look over you,” Ndume, who is also the Senate Chief Whip, and member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said.
“That is where the problem is and he (Buhari) knows that. That was the mistake President Buhari made. He ended up confessing these days that he had more kleptocrats in his government that people that has more interest at heart.”
The budget proposal is Tinubu’s first since his assumption of office in May 2023.
During the show, Ndume defended the rendition of President Bola Tinubu’s campaign tune at the hallowed chamber of the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2024 budget.
During President Tinubu’s presentation of the appropriation bill earlier in the week, the lawmakers stood up as a symbol of respect, but the band was heard playing Tinubu’s campaign song from when he was a presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ndume also felt there was nothing wrong with the lawmakers signing the campaign song of Tinubu.
He had argued that under the era of former President Muhammadu Buhari, the “sai baba” mantra was also recited by the lawmakers.
“It is not a crime. Honestly, it is not a big deal. In this country, we pick on trivial things. When a President walks in, there are times that some members take advantage of that situation to even challenge the President directly.
“When Buhari came some time back, this same thing was done – ‘Sai Baba’ (was chanted). So why should Tinubu’s case be a big deal?” he said.
In another development, the Ondo State Commissioner for Information, Bamidele Ademola-Olateju, has confirmed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the one who personally asked that the embattled Deputy Governor of the state, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, should sign an undated letter of resignation in his bid to intervene in the political crisis that has been rocking the state in the past three months.
Ademola-Olateju who disclosed this in an interview programme on Channels Television’s Lunchtime Politics on Friday, said the President made the request during a peace meeting in Abuja to prevent any further impasse between Aiyedatiwa and the ailing state Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.
“First of all, before I even talk about the Abuja meeting, I just want to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for being a very good leader, wielding into the crisis in Ondo State,” Ademola-Olateju said.
“His intervention has cooled the temperature that was just going haywire in Ondo State, we thank him. At the Abuja meeting, key decisions were made by Mr President who is the leader of our party, the All Progressives Congress. Those key decisions were that the status quo in the state be maintained.
“He decided that the executive council must not be dissolved under any condition and the party structure should be maintained; that the leadership of the House of Assembly should be intact and he nominated three people; the Secretary to the State Government, the party chairman and the speaker of the house to be the enforcers and to forestall further problems.
“He asked for the signed resignation letter of Honourable Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Deputy Governor, undated in case anything untoward happens, so that is what I know,” the Commissioner added.
The speaker of the state House of Assembly had at plenary revealed that the president had asked Aiyedatiwa to sign the undated resignation letter.
There seemed to be a semblance of calmness in the state as Aiyedatiwa presided over the State Executive Council meeting on Thursday after three months of political impasse between himself and Akeredolu, but there are still dark clouds hanging over his position as the State House of Assembly considers the next line of action in their bid to impeach him.
However, the House had, on Thursday, withdrawn an appeal filed before the Court of Appeal in Abuja against the ruling of the Federal High Court which stopped the planned impeachment of Aiyedatiwa.
In the appeal, the Assembly had challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to handle the matter and appealed against the court’s ruling halting the planned impeachment of Aiyedatiwa, which paved the way for him to preside over the SEC meeting in the absence of the recuperating governor.
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