The senator representing Southern Borno at the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, has said it is unpatriotic not to speak the truth to President Bola Tinubu where he fails in his duty to stand for Nigerians.
The senator also sought prayers from Nigerians to rescue the nation from the clutches of hunger and insecurity, and urged his supporters to remain calm and law-abiding following his removal as chief whip of the senate.
He said he had accepted his removal by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress through a letter written to the president of the senate, Godswill Akpabio last Wednesday.
Ndume had accused Tinubu’s presidency of running a solo government despite hunger across the land, just as he alleged in an interview with Arise TV last Thursday that Tinubu had been fenced off and caged by certain forces and expressed concern over the lack of appreciable action by the president in tackling poverty, insecurity, hunger and other pressing issues.
The APC in the letter read by Akpabio asked Ndume to resign from the party and join either the PDP or any of the opposition parties.
But Ndume who was in Maiduguri over the death of his sister-in-law told journalists at his residence yesterday after the third day funeral prayers: “I had wanted to react, but because I was mourning since the day I was illegally removed as chief whip of the senate, I was not able to do so.
“I am a democrat and a realist, and someone who always says the truth no matter whose ox is gored. According to former US president, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, and I quote; ‘Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.
“ Therefore, I have not regretted what I said during my interview with Arise TV, I thank all Nigerians who took to their social media platforms and groups who issued a press statement aligning with my statement regarding excruciating hunger and insecurity under President Bola Tinubu.
