The Senate gave one of its own a New Year gift on January 10, when it announced the removal of Senator Ali Ndume as Senate Leader. It is an event long foreseen and one rooted in contemporary political trend. Group Politics Editor, TAIWO ADISA examines the development and implications for harmony within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
THE removal of Senator Ali Ndume (APC Borno South) as Senate Majority Leader as announced on January 10 had its immediate history dating back to December 14 2016. But the story is far older than that; it dates back to June 2015 when the leadership of the 8th Senate emerged.
The beginning…
In the early hours of December 14, 2016, a rift had ensued between Senator Ali Ndume, then Senate Leader and Senator Dino Melaye, Chairman, Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory(FCT); the man many have seen as ‘Mr. Fix it’ of the current Senate. The rift revolved around the planned confirmation hearing on the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu.
The lawmakers were privy to information that Magu’s fate could be sealed by the Senate over some unfavourable security reports already in the possession of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. They had converged on the office of the Senate president early that day to be part of his entourage to the chamber. But an argument had ensued thereafter as Melaye and Ndume engaged themselves furiously. The argument continued at the entrance of the Senate chamber where many reporters on hand noticed the angry exchange between the duo. It nearly degenerated into fisticuffs as they eventually entered the chamber.
It was gathered that while Ndume was making a case for Magu to be heard in the open session despite the adverse security report against him, Melaye insisted that they should not jettison the report that nailed acting EFCC boss.
Upon resumption of sitting that day, Senator Saraki wasted no time before dissolving the chamber into an executive session which lasted close to two hours. After the session opened,
Saraki reported “progress” and put a question at the same time. He told the open session that the Senate in an executive session discussed issues relating to the screening and confirmation of the acting chairman of the EFCC and subsequently resolved to reject the nomination. Saraki asked: “Is this a true reflection of what transpired at the closed session?” the answer was an affirmative ‘aye’ and the senate president hit the gavel accordingly.
Midway into the executive session, the Senate had dispatched its spokesman, Senator Sabi Abdullahi to brief the journalists covering the Senate. “The Senate,” he announced, “ wishes to inform the public that based on available security report, the Senate cannot proceed with the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The nomination of Ibrahim Magu is hereby rejected and has been returned to the President for further action.”
Four days later, Ndume would stoke up another controversy, this time with the entire Senate when he granted an interview to State House correspondents and indicated that Magu had not been dropped by the Senate. According to him, “We (the Senate) did not reject Ibrahim Magu as EFCC Chairman,” adding that what the Senate did was to “step down” the nomination and seek understanding with President Muhammadu Buhari on whether to confirm him or not.
Ndume’s comments at the Aso Rock Villa were a jolt on many Assembly watchers. It was an open deviation from the comments credited to Senate spokesman days before. But the Senate did not waste time in making clarifications. The next day after Ndume dropped his bombshell, Abdullahi again hit the Senate Press Centre where he affirmed the chamber’s decision to reject Magu and
accordingly return the name to President Buhari. It was the first time the Senate and its Leader would be engaging in open discord. And it was the immediate trigger for Ndume’s eventual removal on January 10.
Senator Sabi took time to showcase the Senate’s anger at Ndume, one of the few granted the powers to speak on behalf of the chamber. Indeed, according to Senate’s convention, those who can officially speak on its behalf are four: the President of the Senate, his Deputy, the Senate Leader and the spokesman of the Senate. In this instance, Ndume’s clarification could be taken as the Senate reversing its earlier stance on Magu.
The spokesman, who brandished a copy of the votes and proceedings of December 15, 2016 all through the press briefing, said that the records were very straight and that Ndume did not tell the nation the correct situation of things.
Abdullahi said: “I am holding the votes and proceeding of Thursday (December 15). We had two votes and proceeding because we had to go into joint session to receive Buhari.
“Our votes and proceedings are the official records of what transpired in chamber. I briefed you on Thursday (December 15) to the effect that the Senate is announcing that, in view of security reports, we were unable to confirm Magu. We then rejected and returned the nomination to Buhari for further action.
“Media reports emerging especially from interviews granted by Senator Ndume meant we have to clarify issues. For the records, I am the official spokesman of the Senate and I intend to discharge this with honour and integrity because the sanctity of the institution is crucial to the sustenance of democracy.”
He further added: “This is the only official position of the Senate. What I say, I say on behalf of the Senate. Nigerians should be guided. There is no ambiguity in what we said. The Senate is an institution and we are working with the Constitution and whatever rules we use, our powers are drawn from the constitution.”
Probed further to clarify how possible it is for the Senate Leader, an experienced lawmaker, to speak against the grains of the opinion of the chamber, he stated: “Truth is sacrosanct. For every line of command there is a line of communication. For the records, the leader that I know is Saraki and the administrative leader is the Clerk to the Senate. As a routine, when you have a nominee, security report should be given.”
Events of January 10
It was a civilian ‘coup’ so to say. Ndume had performed his duties as the Senate Leader that day largely oblivious of the danger at hand. Like Caesar was warned to beware of the ides of March, he failed to watch his own back. On January 9, some lawmakers had decided to take the bull by the horns and replace Ndume, who had clashed with his colleagues on more than two occasions. The lawmakers, according to sources in the chamber, decided that enough was enough and that Ndume must go.
Before then, it was learnt that as soon as Ndume gave the press conference at the Villa, it was decided that his time was up. He was lucky the lawmakers were not in session at the time, a source said.
As early as January 1, sources said that his fate had been sealed as discussions among core members of the Senate president’s group that threw him up, the Like Minds Senators, confirmed that the lawmakers were set to replace him. But things were hazy and it would only take the practical opening up of the Senate president’s mind to know where things would really go.
Prior to the December incident, Saraki had been approached to replace Ndume. Sources in the Senate told The Polity that some ranking senators across the parties in the chamber had advised Saraki to dump Ndume and replace him with Ahmed Lawan, who contested the Senate Presidency with him. The Senate president was, however, said to have expressed the need to play for time so as not to draw the ire of his core loyalists who were still angry with the way the ruling APC went about the leadership selection process in the Senate and had as a result opposed the choice of Lawan.
But on January 9, it became obvious that Saraki had also signed up on the removal of Ndume when he refused to oppose a meeting of the APC senators who started collecting signatures to remove the leader. A Senate Leader can be removed once a simple majority of senators belonging to the party sign off on his removal and with 38 of 63 APC senators, the game was up for Ndume. The coup to oust him, as expected, was done discreetly, even though some of the signatures were collected right inside the chamber while Ndume was presiding.
After he had almost exhausted the Order Paper of the day, Ndume decided to enter the Tea Room at 12.45p.m. He subsequently headed for the mosque for prayers. Sources said he had some premonitions something might happen, but wasn’t sure the shape it would take. A source said that Ndume felt that if he would be removed, an accusation would first be tabled against him and that such might not happen as far as he was not on the floor. He was mistaken.
The ‘plotters’ had other plans. Their own plan was to mandate the Chief Whip and the Deputy Senate President to persuade Ndume to tender his resignation at the tail end of the day’s sitting. The calculation was that he would be asked to tender his resignation, failing which he would be removed with the signatures already handy. His absence meant that the Senate president had only one option: read the notice of removal already submitted to him by the APC caucus.
Saraki announced that he was in possession of a communication from APC Caucus in the Senate indicating the removal of Senator Ali Ndume as Majority Leader and his replacement with Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North).
The notice entitled “NOTICE OF CHANGE OF LEADERSHIP” read: “This is to inform Your Excellency and the Senate that after several meetings held on Monday, 9th of January, 2017, and upon due deliberation and consultation, the APC Caucus of the Senate, hereby wish to notify you of the change in the leadership of the Senate, that the new Senate leader is now Senator Ahmad Lawan, representing Yobe North Senatorial District. Kindly accept our esteem regards and best assurances.”
Sources in the Senate said that Ndume was to be given an option to announce his resignation but that his departure from the floor close to the end of the plenary gave the senators and the Senate President no other option but to announce his removal.
“The Chief Whip and the Deputy Senate President were mandated to persuade Senator Ndume to tender his resignation on the floor on Tuesday but Ndume’s disappearance from the floor gave them no other choice. The letter was submitted and it had to be read once it was signed by an overwhelming majority of the senators involved,” a senator said in confidence, adding that more than 80 per cent of Like Minds Senators signed the removal notice.
Real reasons Ndume had to go
It was easy to link the removal of Ndume with the statement credited to him at the Villa on December 19. But it went far more than that. Sources had confirmed that Senate President Saraki had taken all the fires from the party and the executive because Ndume would not relinquish the office even when the leadership of the APC had made that the irreducible minimum condition for peace with its caucus in the Senate.
Following Saraki’s election, which broke the calculation of the APC’s power structure in the National Assembly, the leadership of the party had in a letter to the new Senate president announced the composition of the Principal Officers of the ruling party which they expected Saraki to announce. The letter by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the party’s National Chairman, was, however, shunned by Saraki, whose supporters went ahead to elect Ndume as Majority Leader.
With the solid backing of the 49 senators of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the time, Saraki was protected against impeachment by the APC. The number had already been deployed to get the PDP the number two seat in the Senate with the election of Ike Ekweremadu. What unfolded were series of attacks on Saraki both on the floor and outside the chamber.
The matter of Ndume and Ekweremadu were always coming up each time an attempt was made to halt the barrage of attempts against Saraki occupation of the Red Chamber. One of such attempts was said to be the advice given by some raking senators that the Senate president should dump Ndume. But Saraki, it was said, insisted on not hurting his supporters who saw Lawan as their opponent.
However with Ndume’s serial gaffes, things started falling in place. An initial attempt to get him to resign his position was said to have been violently resisted. Ndume was said to have left the Senate president’s office in anger. A second attempt was said to have been made at the instance of the APC leadership, who it was said, sought the services of a big gun in the Villa to mediate. Ndume, accordingly, was invited to a meeting where he was told of the need to resign his position in favour of Lawan. Again, the Borno senator was said to have rejected the option, insisting that his colleagues in the North-East had elected him to lead them.
Saraki and his loyalists were said to have decided to play for time and with Ndume courting the anger of more senators, it wasn’t a difficult ‘coup’ to execute on January 10.
Sources in the Senate said that the decision to elevate Lawan would ensure that the Senate caucus is on the same page with the ruling APC while ensuring the tension between the chamber and the party is doused to a large extent.
While confirming the leadership change, Senate spokesman Senator Abdullahi told reporters that the APC caucus has made its decision. He said that the new Majority Leader would take the position because the APC is in the majority in the chamber.
He said: “I am speaking for the Senate and, of course, as you can hear from the announcement it was a letter from the APC caucus. I am not the spokesman of the APC caucus but I am a member of APC and I am here to speak for the Senate. So it will be very difficult for me and I don’t want to find myself in saying who sent you.
“I am not the spokesperson of the caucus. So the announcement is made and of course the Senate made the announcement and the announcement is self-explanatory. Another leader was announced and as far as I am concerned somebody has been announced as the new Majority Leader.”
Ndume’s shock, fight back… ‘I did no wrong’
The former Senate leader, who emerged from the mosque at the basement of the White House of the National Assembly, was practically dazed to hear he had been removed. He said: “Let me say I don’t have much to say because actually I was leading the business of the Senate and when it was like quarter to one, as usual, I asked my deputy to sit in for me while I go to pray.
“On coming back, I discovered that the session was over and one of your colleagues (journalists) approached me and said leader what happened and I said what happened and he said there has been announcement in the change of leadership I said I didn’t know.
“At this point, that is the position. I didn’t know that there was change of leadership because I was not there I went for prayers and I didn’t know what actually happened and I cannot say much now.”
A day after his removal, Ndume slammed the Senate with a point of Order in an attempt to do a “make good” for himself. Citing Orders 43 of Senate Standing Orders 2015, as amended he said that he was shocked that no allegation was raised against him before his removal.
He insisted that though he was removed, he had committed no offence. In media interviews, he insisted that his removal was as a result of his insistence that the Senate should screen the rejected Magu.
He also accused Melaye (APC Kogi West) of spearheading the plot against him through by secretly collecting signatures of APC lawmakers. He was, however, countered by erstwhile spokesman of the Senate Unity Forum (SUF) Senator Kabiru Marafa, who insisted that the Senate did the right thing by removing Ndume.
But speaking on his removal on the floor of the Senate, the embattled senator declared:
“I thank God that throughout my service as the senate leader, most of the times my colleagues casually will say leader we are proud of you. I was not found wanting for anything that I know and because of the unity of this Senate that is more important than myself. Three times I offered to resign and if that will bring peace but I believe that God’s time is the best.
“I was not at any point told of my wrongdoing as it were, but what Dino did calls for caution on the part of the Senate. Today, it is Ali Ndume, God forbid, tomorrow it could be Ekweremadu.
“You are one of those that even warned me here to stop saying that I will resign, but yesterday I was not around, change of leadership was announced. In fact, if the number of those that lost confidence in me is not up to this number and I am made to know, I will resign because I did not become a senate leader in other to lose confidence of any of you.
“As far as I know I have not done anything wrong. But then, just like that, the Senate caucus has the right to say we have lost confidence in you and I think that should be. Now that I have said it I think it’s on record that I did not do anything not to the best of my knowledge. I did not do anything, but as I said since my colleagues 38 of them signed it, so be it.”
Marafa, new leader on the block
With the replacement of Ndume by the leader of SUF, the role of Senator Marafa, erstwhile spokesman of the group had been reversed. The man has suddenly become the alternate spokesman of the Senate and a fighter for the chamber. He took on Senator Ndume immediately the former finished his point of order on Wednesday.
Marafa had taken the floor also citing Order 43 of the Senate standing rules and declared that Ndume’s removal was in line with provisions of order 32(6) of the Senate standing rules. He said that the Order does not make it mandatory for any principal officer to be consulted before a vote of no confidence is passed on him.
Marafa submitted: “I think we have a duty or I have a duty to also educate Nigerians on what actually happened. I am one of the proponents of following due diligence and the rule of law and I feel I have a duty to also say on behalf of this Senate that what we did yesterday (Tuesday), was in accordance with our rules and there was no breach of either the constitution or the rules of this chamber.
“I stood on this floor several times to speak about the importance of following our rules. A lot of people who could have different meanings to different things but I want to put it on record that what we did is in accordance with the provisions of this order.
“For what we did yesterday (Tuesday) and it is duly followed. There was no provision in that order that says somebody has to be consulted or something. I just feel it should be put on record because somebody can ask me or ask any person that when you did something you didn’t follow your rules and I want to say that as a member of this Senate I was seated right here yesterday and I went through this thing and I know that order 32 (6) provided for what we did.”
Lawan’s olive branch
On Thursday, Lawan acknowledged his elevation to the new role. The new Senate leader had while appreciating his colleagues in the APC for electing him said he “will run the affairs of the Senate for the benefit of all.”
He hinted at a cessation of hostilities among the warring APC lawmakers saying: “Nigeria is our country; it does not belong to APC. It belongs to Nigerians. We should put our hands together and ensure stability in the country. I urge the cooperation and understanding of my colleagues.
“The eighth Senate started on a shaky foundation. This Senate will end on a solid, stable and successful foundation. I thank the APC caucus for having confidence and trust in my judgment and ability to serve as leader of the Senate.
“I ask the opposition, that what the APC caucus has done is for all of us. I am not a leader for the APC caucus; I am a leader of the Senate. It is the will of God and as religious people, we believe in destiny. We have accepted our fate and we have accepted to work for the betterment of Nigerians.”
Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, who corrected the notion of Lawan running the Senate by saying that only Saraki had the vested authority, pledged his support and that of his party for Lawan. Incidentally, Akpabio is a member of Saraki’s Like Minds Senators, which fought a huge battle with Lawan’s SUF.
Akpabio said: “We are delighted. We want to note that in spite of the situations of this and that, the Senate is focused on national issues. We are implementing issues on bi-partisan basis. We will continue to remain bi-partisan where the interests of Nigerians are concerned.
“We will support the Senate, the APC caucus and President Muhammadu Buhari on things we believe will take Nigerians out of recession.”
End of SUF/LMS feud in sight?
The speeches by Lawan and Akpabio in many ways as observers noted could signal the beginning of the end of the feud between the Like Minds Senators and the Senate Unity Forum. The Like Minds cut across the two dominant parties while the SUF were the favourites of the APC hierarchy. With the two coming together, the Senate could as well witness a more cordial atmosphere with Saraki being the ultimate beneficiary.