The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said on Tuesday that the party will write to the Senate for reinstatement of Senator Ali Ndume as Chief Whip following his apology to the party.
Ganduje stated this in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the controversial lawmaker over his latest vituperations against President Bola Tinubu that led to his removal by the Senate two weeks ago.
Ndume represents Borno South senatorial district and is a ranking member of the Senate, but found himself in stormy waters over his heavy criticism of President Tinubu’s policies.
A letter written to the Senate for the removal of Ndume as Chief Whip was signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the party which was read on the floor of the Senate by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Ndume was accordingly removed through voice vote.
Meanwhile, the development on Tuesday indicated the party’s resolve to allow Ndume to have a sigh of relief since he has apologised to the party, according to Ganduje.
Ganduje said: “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,” the former Kano State governor said.
Ganduje said the crisis Ndume was involved in is a family issue; hence, the party is going to write to the National Assembly to reinstate him.
“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, you know he apologised to the party and we will convey the same issue to the National Assembly, with the hope they can review their position.”