Former Senate Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, has cautioned President Bola Tinubu to be wary of individuals he describes as “attention seekers” who insult other politicians in an attempt to gain favor with the presidency.
Senator Ndume issued this warning on Saturday in a statement he signed and distributed to journalists in Abuja. His remarks were in response to allegations made against him by Daniel Bwala, a former aide to Atiku Abubakar, who has since defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bwala had tweeted last Friday, claiming that Ndume was planning to mobilize youths in his local government, Hawul, to attack him. Hawul is one of the constituencies represented by Senator Ndume.
In his weekend statement, Ndume reiterated his history of criticizing certain government policies that he believes are detrimental to the economic survival of Nigerians. He also dismissed Bwala’s political significance, asserting that the former aide of ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar holds no political value because he is not recognized in his hometown of Hawul.
He said, “Ordinarily, I do not want to join the issue or wouldn’t have replied Mr Bwala who claimed to be from Hawul local government area which is part of my constituency.
“I can describe Daniel Bwala as a failed lawyer, making noise in Abuja. As I said, I did not want to respond, but because Bwala talked about threats or I am mobilising youths to attack him, which has security implications and is very sensitive. I believe Bwala’s strategy is how to get the attention and sympathy of Mr President to give him Police cover and maybe a job.
“We have credible people in the Hawul local government area, and they know who Daniel Bwala is, in fact when I saw his message on X handle, I thought it was Inuwa Bwala who was the former Caretaker Chairman of Hawul and a renowned journalist. I quickly drew his attention to it, which he said, he was not the one.
“Later, I was made to understand that it is Daniel Bwala who has no political relevance as far as Southern Borno is concerned. I replied to his post and said that if accusing and abusing me on Twitter or pages of newspapers would fetch him something from Tinubu to survive after being a failed lawyer in Abuja, I would be happy for him.
”We have three former Deputy Governors from Hawul, and all of them are my ardent supporters and people I took in high esteem throughout my political journey. Bwala wants to portray the peace-loving youths as violent people. You can’t instigate Hawul people to go into political violence, because it is not in their character. All I can say is that Bwala is trying to get sympathy from Mr. President.
“The only advice I can give President Tinubu is that he should be careful with the likes of Bwala. “Bwala was once a member of the APC, but later ran away shamelessly and joined
former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, where he started accusing Tinubu with all sorts of abusive and insulting words on live television. Bwala can only be useful in attacking people, but the 2027 general elections are coming, all I can advise is for Bwala to come to Borno and trace his roots.”
