The immediate past Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, on Tuesday publicly apologised to the ruling All Progressives Congress for embarrassing President Bola Tinubu on a live television programme.
The apology came one month after he was removed as the Senate’s Chief Whip following the interview he granted Arise TV, stating that Tinubu had been caged and prevented from knowing the hardships which Nigerians were going through,
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.
Addressing journalists after a two-hour closed-door meeting with members of the party’s National Working Committee at its secretariat in Abuja, the senator said that though he has tendered an unreserved apology to the party, he stands by what he told Nigerians in the interview.
He said, “Yesterday, I was invited by the party and here I am to discuss family matters. Actually, the national chairman is not just a chairman to me but also a father. With what has happened, it is not surprising that I was invited to hear my side and we had a family discussion.
“I accepted the mistake of not talking to the party as a last point and I told the party that all my observations as a senior member of the family should have terminated or ended with the party. That is something that will be corrected moving forward. But whatever I said or did was out of patriotism.”
