Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South has warned President Bola Tinubu that failure to address Nigeria’s deepening challenges could force him to exit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Ndume, who served as Director-General of the Rotimi Amaechi Presidential Campaign, made the remarks during an interview on Arise News, where he also took aim at former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the current administration, Ndume said his continued loyalty to the APC depends on Tinubu’s ability to deliver effective governance. “If I decide to leave the APC, I will not hide it,” he declared. “I still believe President Tinubu can fix things. Failure to fix those things may cause me to leave the APC.”
He further warned that indiscriminate defections into the APC could destabilise the party. “If Tinubu continues this way, it doesn’t matter if he brings in more people or governors, you are just endangering the APC. When you overload a ship, it might capsize,” he cautioned.
Ndume also revisited political tensions surrounding El-Rufai, who recently joined the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) after being denied a ministerial position by Tinubu’s administration. He suggested El-Rufai’s political woes are linked to his decision to abandon Amaechi during the APC presidential primaries in favour of Tinubu. “El-Rufai was supposed to be on our side but somehow, he moved over. I think these are part of the things that are annoying or frustrating him,” Ndume said.
He recalled that before Tinubu secured the party’s nomination, El-Rufai had pledged support to Amaechi. “He made up his mind to support Tinubu, and Tinubu, as he rightly said, asked him to join the government,” Ndume noted.
The senator added that, as Senate Chief Whip at the time, he and others nearly cleared El-Rufai’s nomination during his ministerial screening, but the process ended in rejection. “Sometimes, I’ll say, ‘Okay o, you did that to us, it’s payback to yourself,’” he remarked.
In an earlier appearance on Channels Television, Ndume had accused some presidential aides of deceiving the president and damaging his public image. He also alleged that Tinubu’s government has been hijacked by “kleptocrats” and “kakistocrats”—terms used to describe corrupt and incompetent political actors.
ADEOLA KUNLE
