Apologies To APC, But My Comments Are Patriotic – Sen Ndume

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The immediate past Senate Chief Whip, Senator Ali Ndume, has apologised to the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership for failing to consult the party before publicly criticising the policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.

However, the embattled Senator, who represents Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, reasserted that; “whatever I said or whatever I did was out of patriotism.”

Ndume told journalists after meeting with the APC leadership in Abuja on Tuesday; “Yesterday I was invited by the party and here I am to discuss family matters. Actually, the national chairman is not just a national chairman to me but a father.”

Speaking on the outcome of his engagement with the Party’s hierarchy, the lawmaker further said; “With what has happened which you are all aware, it is not surprising that I am invited to hear my own side and we had family discussions and I actually accepted the mistake of not talking to the party as a last point and I promised 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 moving forward but whatever I said or whatever I did was out of patriotism and those issues may be said strong but they are true but then I should have talked to the party as the last bus stop.”

Also commenting on their engagement with the Senator, the APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje said the Party invited him to discuss his recent remarks on the Tinubu-led administration.

According to him; “We are quite satisfied with his apology. Like he said, we invited him and you know the party is the father of everybody. As a party, we are free to invite legislators, we are free to invite members of the executive, and we are even free to invite all the appointed party members in the government, so, that is why we decided to come.

“It is a family issue, we need to resolve it and we are writing to the National Assembly conveying what has transpired between Senator Ndume and the party and you know he apologized to the party and we will convey the same issue to the National Assembly, with the hope they can review their position”.