…Tasks him to devote more energy to assisting govt in finding ‘local solutions’ to insurgency
Chairman, Senate Services, Sen. Sunday Karimi, has descended heavily on his Borno-South counterpart, Sen. Ali Ndume, for accusing the administration of President Bola Tinubu of making lopsided political appointments in favour of his Yoruba ethnic stock.
Karimi expressed surprise that Ndume, a former Chief Whip of the 10th Senate, often chose to “play to the gallery” by leaving “real development challenges like the insecurity confronting Nigeria, to promote sentiments.”
In a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, Karimi, who represents Kogi-West Senatorial District, cited the devastation caused to Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgency, saying that it cost the nation “over 50 per cent of its earnings” in recent years in counter-terrorism spending.
Karimi urged Ndume to devote more energy to assisting the government in finding what he called “local solutions” to the insurgency instead of “constantly projecting” himself as a critic of Tinubu’s government.
“Over 50% of Nigeria’s earnings in the last few years is being spent on fighting insurgency.
“Rather than playing to the gallery and criticising the government, Senator Ndume as a leader of his people should go back home, liaise with his people on solving Boko Haram problems.
“Insecurity has a local solution”, Karimi stated.
Citing his own example, he said that to address banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes in Kogi-West, he had facilitated the building of a military base in Egbe Town, Yagba West Local Government Area, in addition to the provision of other logistics.
“The country has lost a lot of his soldiers and trillions of Naira fighting insurgents in Senator Ndume’s Senatorial District in the last decades.
“In fact, I lost one of the young officers, a captain in the Nigerian Army from my Senatorial District serving in his community three weeks ago.
“Lots of young Nigerians had lost their lives fighting to defend the territorial integrity of our country. Those are more serious and compelling issues threatening our collective existence”, he added.
The Kogi-West lawmaker was reacting to the latest comments made by Ndume when he appeared as a guest on television programme on Monday, alleging that Tinubu had been unfair to other parts of the country in the appointments he made so far.
Reacting to the allegation, The Presidency accused Ndume of “headline-chasing” and spreading misleading narratives for political gain.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement via his X account on Tuesday, berated Ndume, noting that he has repeatedly shown that he is “allergic to facts and addicted to theatrics.”