The Senate on Wednesday suspended former Majority leader Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume representing Borno South for a period of 6 months for bringing Senator Dino Melaye, Senate President Bukola Saraki and entire the Senate to unbearable disrepute.
The upper chamber of National Assembly also cleared the Senator Dino Melaye from the alleged first degree saga and Senate President Bukola Saraki from the insinuation that that the invitation of Controller General of Customs was informed by the seizure of Bullet Proof SUV vehicle belonging to the Senate President was cleared with fake National Assembly documents.
Ndume suspension follows the recommendation of the Senate Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions in their report presented by the Committee chairman Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
The Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions also observe that Senator Ndume did not conduct thorough and diligent investigation on the issue he saw on online media outfit before bringing the matter to the floor of the Senate. “As former leader, he should have conducted thorough and diligent investigation before bringing the issue to the floor of the Senate” one of the observations of the committee read.
Although the committee had recommended that Ndume should be suspended for 181 seating days but the recommendation was reduced to 6 months after pleading from Senator Yusuf Yusuf representing Taraba Central. “As first offender, he should be asked to apologize to the Senator Dino Melaye, Senate President and the entire Senate” Yusuf said.
But Senator Peter Nwaoboshi disagrees and stated that Ndume is not a first offender. He recalled how the former Senate leader misrepresented the Senate position on the indictment of the Secretary to the Federation (SGF).
The Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who presided over the consideration of the report said the suspension would serve as deterrent to other Senators who have the intention of bringing frivolous issue to the floor of the Senate without proper investigation.
The suspension of the former majority leader commenced immediately.
Senator Ali Ndume through Senate order 14 and 15, draw the attention of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly to media reports alleging certificate scandal against Senator Dino Melaye and that the invitation of Controller General of Customs Hameed Ali was informed by the seizure of Bullet Proof SUV vehicle belonging to the Senate President
