One of the major contenders for the position of the Senate President in the incoming ninth National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, has assured that he would not step down for Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) even if invited to Aso Rock.<\/p>\n
With the exit of Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe) from the race for the Senate presidency, there are speculations that Ndume would also step down if summoned for a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\n
However, Ndume on Sunday noted that it was too late for him to withdraw.<\/p>\n
On why he cannot withdraw from the race, Ndume said \u201cstepping down at this period will be disastrous to my political career and it\u2019s not necessary because there\u2019s no one and convincing reason for me to stepdown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you asking whether I\u2019ve withdrawn or not? I\u2019ve been in the race ab initio; Goje did not at any time formally announce that he was contesting for the Senate presidency.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s too late for me to withdraw; we\u2019ve passed that level because there\u2019s no reason for that. Afterall, give me one reason why I should withdraw.\u201d<\/p>\n
On if he would meet with Buhari if summoned, Ndume told Daily Trust: \u201cIf Mr President asks me to meet him is a different matter. He\u2019s my leader, I will honour the invitation but stepping down is another thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he calls me anytime, I will go and discuss with him, but the issue of Senate presidency is an entirely different thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do visit the president even without invitation; but stepping down at this period will be disastrous to my political career and it\u2019s not necessary because there\u2019s no one and convincing reason for me to stepdown.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the major contenders for the position of the Senate President in the incoming ninth National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, has assured that he would not step down for Senate Leader Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe) even if invited to Aso Rock. With the exit of Sen. Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe) from the race for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":11338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[34,287,69,158,334],"class_list":["post-11337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-apc","tag-assembly","tag-court","tag-presidency","tag-yobe"],"yoast_head":"\n