By Kolawole Ojebisi
Senator representing Borno South, Mohammed Ali Ndume, has said the form of government being practised in Nigeria is a far cry from democracy in principle.
Ndume said democracy has lost its essence in Nigeria because it can’t improve the welfare of people who are living in dire poverty
The lawmaker stressed that instead of being a government of the people, by the people and for the people, democracy has been “personalised”
Ndume spoke to Deutsche Welle (DW) Hausa service, on Sunday. He said, “It worries me that despite committing myself to the cause of improving the welfare of the masses in the hope that their condition would be better, it is lamentable that this has not yet been achieved.
“We held hopes high during the administration of Buhari and now the present government, thinking that the sacrifices of the poor would pay off. I’m worried because I’m also a son of the poor.
“The government of the day is now ‘personalised’. A government under a democratic rule is supposed to be a government of the people, for the people and by the people. But this is not so now.”
The legislator also recounted how he was suspended from the 8th Senate without salary and removed as Chief Whip in the 10th Senate for, according to him, “speaking the truth”.
Ndume also narrated how ex-Senate President Bukola Saraki allegedly betrayed him despite rallying support for his emergence as the 8th Senate President.
“I was removed as Senate leader and later suspended for eight months without salary. It riled me up because we played a crucial role in the emergence of Saraki (as Senate President) but he betrayed me.
“I was recently sacked as Chief Whip for speaking the truth. But it is now a thing of the past. And as I watch, Allah in his mercy is avenging the betrayal.”
Senator Ndume has been a vociferous critic of the Tinubu administration despite being elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Recall that the lawmaker once said those close Tinubu are not telling him the truth concerning the conditions of the people in the country.
His unrelenting criticism of the current administration is believed to have prompted his removal as Chief Whip of the Senate.
