• I was betrayed, says ex-leader
From Fred Itua, Abuja
Senate will, today, appeal a Federal High Court judgment, delivered last Friday, which nullified the suspension of Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District.
Senate’s intent was contained in a statement issued by its counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), yesterday.
Ozekhome said the country’s upper legislative chamber would also apply for stay of execution at the Court of Appeal.
The FHC voided the suspension in the judgment delivered on the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/551/2017, which Ndume filed to challenge his suspension for 90 legislative days.
in a statement issued by the Media Office of President of the Senate, which was signed by Ozekhome, the Senate faulted the judgment on various grounds.
“The notice of appeal is ready and would be filed unfailingly by Monday morning. An application for a stay of execution of the orders of the court will also be filed same time.”
Meanwhile, Ndume told newsmen, at the weekend, that he offered to resign three times as head of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the upper legislative chamber.
He said he offered to resign at the peak of the crisis that engulfed APC caucus in the Senate. Ndume, in mid 2015, was appointed as Senate Leader, despite strong objections from the leadership of his party, the APC.
He was eventually sacked in December, 2015 and Ahmad Lawan, who was abnitio, anointed by APC to be the Senate President, was announced as Ndume’s replacement.
Ndume was suspended in March this year, following the adoption of a report of the Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, which investigated him.
Addressing newsmen at the weekend, soon after a Federal High Court nullified his suspension by the Senate, Ndume said he willingly offered to resign before he was removed, so as to reconcile the two waring factions, Like Minds and Unity Group.
He said: “I do not really need to go over my role that I played. We had to disagree with the party and at the end of it, the party was trying to settle that. At several times, I said if that would bring peace to the Senate let it be.
“I was ready to leave the Senate leadership then. I offered that three times before I was eventually removed. So I was not bothered. This is the third time I have been stabbed at the back and I am not bothered.”
Although he did not mention names, he said he had been betrayed three times in the past. “I have said that I have been betrayed because all of you know the role I played in the struggle of making that Senate to be better than what we had during the 7th one.
“Unfortunately, it became worse because the last time on the 7th Senate, the few of us were those that were kind of owning the Senate. It was the concept we had that made us to even disobey the party order. We said that the Senate should belong to the senators.
“That was why we brought in even the other parties. That was why we had the like minds. I initiated that, co-opted people and then we felt that we would now have a Senate that is real, in the sense that it would stabilise our system. We said it must start by us deciding who is going to be our Senate President.”
Ndume, while recalling how he was suspended, said he did ought to been appreciated for bringing the twin issues of certificate forgery and car importation to the floor of the Senate.
The lawmaker said: “I just called the attention of the Senate to what is going on in the media about Senator Dino Melaye and then the issue of the importation of a Range Rover and then I just drew the attention. In fact, the decision to investigate that case was not mine. Mine was to bring the attention. I would have been overruled.
“So for them to come behind to say you should have done the investigation is wrong. Investigate what? I just called the attention of the Senate to the fact that this is what was going on and everybody knew. So I was even expecting that the Senate would commend me because that point of order that I raised put the two cases to rest, otherwise it would have still been in the public domain.
“Like I said, you know you cannot reverse what has happened. Honestly, I leave everything with God. You see there is God oh. People would pay for what they do to me. Some of them have started seeing it already.”