Former national vice chairman of the North West of the All Progressives Congress, Salihu Lukman, has expressed concern over the removal of Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South, as Chief Whip of the tenth Senate.
The Senate Caucus had on Wednesday removed Ndume from the exalted position and also stripped him of the position of Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation.
Lukman, in a statement, “Fanatical Mindset,” issued in Abuja on Thursday, said the remarks attributed to Senator Ndume that Tinubu has been caged by certain forces in the Presidential Villa were not far from the truth.
Aside from accusing the APC National Working Committee of denying Ndume a fair hearing, the former Director General of the Progressives Governors Forum also declared that the failure of the party’s national secretariat to allow voices of dissent would spell doom for the party in 2027.
The statement read in part, “The way things are, it is almost as if President Asiwaju Tinubu has resolved that he will only be a one-term president.
“Under his watch, the living conditions of Nigerians are continuously getting worse. Instead of making an effort to develop clear plans to address the situation, the government is becoming more intolerant of criticism.
“In the last week, the government has developed a fanatical mindset of condemning and criminalising criticism, so much so that it is resorting to bribing religious leaders to declare that protests are ungodly.
‘Everything is being done to suspend free speech in the country. It is almost as if we are back in the Abacha era, or even worse.
“As it is, the personal liberties of citizens are being threatened. A fair hearing is no longer guaranteed. Sadly, we have a democracy without Democrats.
“All patriotic Nigerians must wake up to the responsibility of rescuing the country. How can we have a democracy that produces leaders who are intolerant of criticism?
“Why should we allow a situation whereby so-called leaders of the ruling party will behave like officials of military tribunals who operate with the fanatical mindset of condemning everyone accused of wrongdoing without the benefit of a fair hearing?
“It is quite interesting that Dr Ganduje and Sen. Basiru could ask Sen. Ndume to ‘honourably resign the membership of the APC and join any opposition party of his choice formally’. Already, with nonfunctioning organs, the APC has basically dismissed all its members.
“Nowhere in the Constitution of the APC is the National Chairman, National Secretary, or any official, or even the National Working Committee, given the powers to summarily remove any principal officer of the National Assembly.
“It is a shame that the APC Senate Caucus will permit such an act of illegality. By so doing, they have set a precedent that will further erode the independence of the National Assembly.
“Already, with the way Sen. Godswill Akpabio has been conducting himself, almost reducing the Senate Chamber to the status of a parastatal of government, the action of the APC under the leadership of Dr Ganduje to direct the removal of principal officers for criticising President Asiwaju Tinubu’s government highlights the fanatical mindset undermining Nigerian democracy.
“Any democracy that cannot accommodate criticism is no democracy. A democracy that subverts fair hearings is a dictatorship.
“A democracy that permits a ruling party to demobilise its organs and inadvertently expels its members is worse than a military government.
“All patriotic Nigerian political leaders must unite to restore Nigeria’s democracy. Nigerian opposition leaders must unite to build a truly strong political party to rebuild Nigerian democracy.
“All our opposition leaders and orphaned leaders of the APC must come together and unite. Sen. Ndume, being the newest APC orphan, is welcome to join the effort of political leaders in the country to restore and rebuild our democracy.
“So long as the APC, its leadership, and Asiwaju Tinubu’s government have taken the self-destructive path, which is equivalent to a declaration of working to end their tenure in 2027, patriotic Nigerians must help them to ensure their defeat in 2027.”
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