Presidency has fired back at Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, for giving Muhammadu Buhari a “thumbs-up” for “being a more accessible president” than President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Gatekeepers News reports that Ndume while speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Friday said it is difficult to have an appointment with President Bola Tinubu because the nation’s leader has been “shielded from reality” by some of his appointees.
Ndume added that during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo “who was older than our president is now, in 24 hours, any senator has access to him, ministers go in and out. That is politics. You talk to the people, hear from the people”.
Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007.
Ndume, who represents Borno south senatorial district in the red chamber, added that access to Tinubu is not this difficult outside the walls of the presidential villa.
“If you know the president before now, you would know that the whole scenario has changed,” Ndume said.
“This is somebody, he stays in Lagos… if you go to Bourdillon, any day, any time in the night, you can go to Bourdillon at 2 O’clock in the morning and in most cases you would find President Tinubu receiving people and seeing them off.
“But now, if you go to the front of the villa, it’s like a graveyard because they don’t allow anybody to go and see Mr. President.
“During Buhari’s administration, which I thought was not that good… but if you compare this now to Buhari’s regime, you would give Buhari a thumbs-up. At least Buhari opens up, people come to see him.”
Ndume reiterated that most ministers do not have access to the president.
“There are some ministers who don’t have access to Mr. President. The only access they have to Mr. President is when they are invited. And some may never be invited,” he added.
“Or they can see the president when they go for council meetings. And you know, when they go for council meetings, by the time the president walks in, all of them are seated. And the president is always the first to leave.”
The senator said some of the president’s aides may be doing him more harm than good.
“Besides shielding Mr. President, they always give him assurance that everything is all right out there. And that is not the case,” he said.
Responding, Presidency in a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi said, “Senator Ali Ndume has a horrible reputation for being a loose cannon and careless talker. His capacity for introspection is too low.
“People like him only remember the poor and the fact that “Nigerians are suffering” when their personal agenda and indulgences can’t be met.
“Senator Ndume does not remember the poor and their children when it is time to fix his own children into CBN, NNPC and other choice MDAs and state owned enterprises.
“He made baseless and unfounded allegations against the President that he is cut off from reality of Nigerians.
“This President is well aware and fully abreast of the current material conditions of Nigerians and he is working very hard to deal with the challenges.
“The economy is still facing headwinds but things are gradually turning in the positive direction.
“A President that gets daily briefings from his team, receives cross-section of Nigerians from all strata of the society almost every day – from business leaders to religious leaders, socio-cultural groups and professional groups can’t be falsely accused of being removed from the realities of the people.”
