Senate Presidency: Why I Dumped Ndume For Lawan – Gov Shettima

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, has abandoned his kinsman, Senator Ali Ndume, who is running for the office of Senate President, as he has declared support for the All Progressive Congress (APC) preferred candidate for the position, Ahmed Lawan.

Shettima, who was reported to have backed Ndume for the race, has now withdrawn his support for the Borno senator and aligned himself with Lawan who is from Yobe state.

The governor said although he was “bound by blood” with Ndume who is also his political ally, he had to respect the position of the party on the leadership of the 9th National Assembly.

Speaking when he received the “Ahmad Lawan for Senate President Group” at his Abuja residence, Governor Shettima said he remains a loyal party man, adding that the most northern politicians in office today rode on President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity and influence to win elections, hence should

“I am the first citizen of the state and I have consulted widely with our leaders from Borno before resolving to back Sen. Ahmad Lawan,” said the governor.

“Most importantly, let us be honest. Muhammadu Buhari is the single candidate in the country that most of us from the North won our election by aligning with him.

“I have very little to say, ordinarily I am not even supposed to come here because there are three things to be combated.

“I hail from the same state with the Distinguished Sen. Ali Ndume and I appreciate the fact that politics is local. But politics is also national.

“I believe the blood that binds us together supersedes whatever we might harbour.

“But I fully align with the aspiration of my party, and by the grace of God we are going to mobilise all our goodwill to see that we are fully on board,” he said.

The governor, who is also Senator-elect in the 9th Senate, added: “We are for Senator Ahmad Lawan. We are for Femi Gbajabiamila and all other senators and other House of Representatives members endorsed by the party.

“We are for the party that allowed everyone to aspire to political offices. We believe that we must respect the party.

“There is no provision for independent candidates. I don’t know whether anyone has won under an independent platform, except maybe Senator-elect Ifeanyi Ubah, who brought in an anonymous party and won.

“So, I feel honoured by the visit, but honestly this visit is unwarranted. I am fully onboard. I am for Sen. Ahmad Lawan for Senate President,” Mr Shettima said.

“President Buhari has endorsed some of the best hands we have in the system, and where we hail from, Sen. Ahmad Lawan is one of the best hands we have. It is a reality.

“He has been in the National Assembly since 1999. He has the experience, exposure, pedigree, and intellect to redefine the process.

“He is the best amongst equals. He is level headed, calm, mature and we need such quality of leadership to drive the 9th Senate.”

The senator-elect assured the party that he and other elected citizens of Borno would prevail on Mr Ndume to drop his ambition.

“We, the elected representatives of the people of Borno are not at war with Sen. Ali Ndume.

“He is my kinsman, but we will continue to prevail on him to align himself with the aspirations of the party.

“We are not at war. We belong to the same paternity”, he said.

Meanwhile, despite his party’s open endorsement of Lawan, Ndume has insisted on running for senate president.