One of the contenders for the Senate president’s seat,
Mohammed Ali Ndume, has said that he believes President Muhammadu Buhari will
not ask him to step down for anybody in the contest.
Ndume said the president believed in democratic process and
would not interfere in the process of electing leaders of the National
Assembly.
Speaking yesterday during an interaction with the newsmen in
Abuja, Ndume also said he would not want any of the contenders for the seat to
step down for him. “We’re a house of elders, and I don’t expect anybody to
choose a leader for elders, they should be allowed to do that by themselves,”
he said.
According to him, “I don’t think Mr President will ask me to
step down because he has never interfered in the electoral process. Besides,
there’s no need for me to step down. “Let’s go into election and allow the senators
to elect whom they want. I’m against imposition.
The president wasn’t imposed, and the party chairman too
wasn’t imposed. I don’t think anybody will approach me to step down. “When Mr
President contested the first time, he had the likes of Kwankwaso, Okorocha,
Sam Nda-Isaiah and the rest. Okorocha contested despite the fact that the
position was zoned to the North.
“The truth is that I don’t want anybody to be asked to step
down for me. Even during the primaries, the party wanted to screen out some of
my contenders, and I said no.
The only thing we can do is for the contenders to sit among
themselves and say we want so and so person,” he said. Asked about his
relationship with the other contenders, Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) and Mohammed
Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe), the Borno South senator said: “I have a very cordial
relationship with the rest of the contenders.
We relate like brothers that we’ve been. I believe all the
senators have something to offer.” He said one of the reasons they lobbied for
the position of the Senate president to be zoned to the North East was as a
result of the damage done to the zone by insurgency.
“I have seen the devastation, I’m a victim. The whole of
Borno is living like a modern prison. The office of the Senate president can be
used to have global support. It’s not as if you’ll deep your hand into money,
no.”
Asked if his party, the APC, erred in endorsing Lawan as its
preferred candidate for the seat, Ndume said: “The party hasn’t taken a
decision technically. So, I can’t say the party erred. “The party technically
hasn’t decided that its Ahmad Lawan. Oshiomhole is the chairman of the party
and not the party.
The president didn’t say he aligned with the recommendation
of Lawan. He only said the party did the most difficult thing. “Oshiomhole
erred by narrowing down on a particular person.
That’s his personal opinion, and that won’t affect my
chances. “I wrote to the party indicating my interest.
The other contestants didn’t. The party must do what’s
constitutional, and what Oshiomhole did wasn’t constitutional. So, I can only
work with what’s constitutional.
“I’m talking to all my colleagues, those that can listen to
me. You may talk to somebody and then what he says in his mouth may not be
what’s in his mind.
I’m talking to both APC and PDP senators-elect. I’m a son
of nobody who became somebody without knowing anybody,” Ndume said.
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