The leadership of the Labour Party has condemned the removal of Senator Ali Ndume as the Chief Whip of the Senate on Wednesday.
Following his sack, Ndume was immediately replaced by the Senator representing Borno North, Tahir Monguno.
Ndume’s replacement by the Senate followed a directive issued to that effect in a letter written by the National Chairman of the party, Umar Ganduje and National Secretary, Senator Bashir Ajibola.
The request was put to voice votes by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and loudly affirmed by all the APC senators.
Reacting to the development in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, expressed concerns that speaking truth to power is gradually becoming a crime in the country.
According to him, the humiliation of Ndume by the Akpabio- led Senate has portrayed the dictatorial inclination of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He said, “The crime of Senator Ndume was his bold expression of his concerns regarding the escalating cost of living and food scarcity in Nigeria and his revelation that President Bola Tinubu has chosen to play the ostrich even in the face of acute starvation being witnessed in Nigeria.
“The dimension this administration has taken is grave. A few months ago, Senator Abdul Ningi exposed the rot in the government where the Senate leadership and the executive collaborators allegedly padded the budget. That got him suspended and intimidated out of his lawful representative role as a senator.
“It is needless talking about the economic crisis on going in Nigeria even where a few cabal members are massively enriching themselves. The National Bureau of Statistics recently said that food inflation has risen to 40.66 per cent. Even with all these glaring challenges, the government is said to have paid about N150b for a presidential jet and building roads that have no direct bearing on the economic crises in Nigeria.
“The media practitioners are recoiling into their sheds for fear of reporting the facts about this government for fear of emasculation and incarceration. This is a tyranny of a cabal against a legislative autonomy. Nigeria is gradually descending into dictatorship and we are calling on the citizens to be on an alert and put up a defence against the starvation weapon being deployed by this administration.”
Rotimi Agbana
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