Senator Ali Ndume was suspended by the upper legislative chamber of the National Assembly in March, following the adoption of a report submitted by the Senate committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
Having served out his suspension, Ndume resumed on Tuesday, 14th November 14, 2017. In this interview, the immediate-past Senate Leader spoke on what he termed his unconstitutional suspension, his time outside the Senate and other salient issues.
What is your reaction to the court ruling concerning your suspension, which was in your favour?
I am just from the court and I thank God that the court has declared my suspension unconstitutional, illegal and null and void. That was what I approached the court for. That is, a declaratory judgment and I got that judgment. So that nullifies my suspension which I hitherto or ab initio said was illegal. First of all, there was no cause for me to be suspended because I did not do anything that would have warranted my suspension in the first place.
And secondly, the senate does not have the right so suspend a member for more than two weeks. That is what our rules say. So, where they got the power to suspend me for six months was what I approached the court to seek declaration and the court has so declared that it was not right and it was illegal. Even though I have already spent out my illegal suspension time, I did that not because of my person but because of the institution. I did that so that individuals cannot just do what they like because they are elected one among equals to lead the institution.
I also thank God that I am alive to have seen it because as I said several times, so many members lost their seats. A member died in the senate, two or three members died in the House of Representatives and I am not better than them in any way. It could have been me. So this power or this seat is just a transient thing. So I thank God for that and for me to be able to see that judgment too. This is not victory for myself, it is not personal, it is not that I am trying to prove anything, no. But I am saying that as someone who has been in this democratic institution for over 14 years now, it behooves on me when things like this happen to try to see that things are done correctly and I hope that my colleagues who have done that will equally see the wisdom in the judgment. It is not a victory or anything, no, it is just strengthening democracy and doing what is right.
What if they appeal?
Well, I do not think so and I do not hope so, but I will not be surprised. I look at it as it is. My suspension was not right in the first place. I did not do anything to warrant my suspension. But if it is vindictiveness or vengeance, then appeal on declaratory judgment will not prove that that was vindictiveness. Otherwise, something that you are supposed to do, that was what the court says and it is a declaratory judgment. The court has said that the senate has no right to do what it did. So if they appeal, I will not be surprised, but I would be disappointed.
Does that mean you will be resuming?
Yes, in fact the senate has written me that I am supposed to resume on the 15th. I got the letter from the clerk telling me that my suspension was over on the 14th and that I should resume on the 15th.
How do you hope to reply to that letter? By the judgment, that means you were never on suspension.
As I said, what has happened has happened, I cannot reverse the days. I have spent eight months now out of the National Assembly, I cannot reverse that, but it would be on record that what they did was wrong. As I said, I am hoping to be in the chamber on Wednesday (15th November) briefly, because I intend to travel that day. So I am going to be on my own suspension for two weeks. I am going for Umra, lesser Hajj on that Wednesday that I am supposed to resume. By then I hope the budget would be ready and we will start the process. In fact I am even thinking that I may not even come, but I want to show up because of you. So many people have been looking forward to seeing me. I think they will be disappointed if they do not see me.
You said you cannot reverse what has happened. Will you forgive those you think were instrumental in your suspension? Are you expecting any apology?
Well, I was asked to apologise before and as I said I do not have any problem apologising if I offend somebody. But I did not do anything wrong. I am not taking anything personal against anybody. If anybody takes anything personal against me, I leave him with God because I do not have the advantage. It’s just that they are taking advantage of their position and the confidence we have reposed in them.
I have said that I have been betrayed because all of you know the role I played in the struggle to making that Senate to be better than what we had during the 7th one. Unfortunately, it became worse because in the 7th Senate, the few of us were those that were kind of senators that you would say ‘own’ 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.
I do not really need to go over the 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.
Did the senate make any representation in court?
The Senate had a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He was there in the court, two or three times. It is a declaratory judgment. I did not want to make a big deal out of it. All I wanted was for the court to determine whether it was right for them to have suspended me for six months in the first place. If you look at Order 67, sub section 4 of our rules, it only allows the senate to suspend a person for one day. That is if he behaves unruly and if in the opinion of the Senate President he behaves like getting physical or fighting, then he can be suspended for the maximum period of 14 days.
And in my own case, I did not do anything. I just called the attention of the senate to what was 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 of my colleagues to the issues. In fact, the decision to investigate that case was not mine. Mine was to bring it to the attention of the senate. 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 to God. You see there is God oh. People would pay for what they did to me. Some of them have started seeing it already.
We had instances like these in the past, where some lawmakers had favourable judgments, but the institution did not obey the rulings. Do you intend to pursue the entitlements that are due to you since the court has said that in the face of the law you never committed any offence?
My entitlements are mine as the court said, but my entitlement has been denied me from April to date. I am alive. So, I am not going to go back because of my entitlements. I am ready to move on and I do not think that it is a big deal anyway. My right is my right and my right has been trampled on and in fact my constituents have been denied representation which is a constitutional matter. My going to court is not primarily because of the financial aspect of it, no. As I said earlier, senators died and they cannot be paid. Senators have been removed, they cannot be paid and many of us are out there. So the emphasis is on the declaration and the interpretation of the action taken that was unjust on me. That is the most important thing.
|Sun
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