Disenchantment may be quietly brewing in Northern Nigeria, and Senator Ali Ndume says the ballot box will ultimately deliver the verdict if urgent steps are not taken.
The Borno South lawmaker sounded a strong warning on Wednesday during an appearance on ARISE Television’s Prime Time, declaring that rising discontent across the North could translate into serious electoral consequences.
“Anybody that tells you that the North is not grumbling now is not telling the truth,” Ndume said.
“It will be loud in their votes if nothing is done about it. The good thing about it is that the President can turn things around.”
Ndume pointed fingers not directly at President Bola Tinubu, but at what he described as a disconnected inner circle that lacks political depth and grassroots awareness.
According to him, the growing frustration in the North is well-known to regional leaders, who have made attempts to engage the President constructively.
“In the North, northern elders have been reaching out. I was part of the first and the last meetings with Mr. President when northern elders went to him,” he said.
“He was prepared. He brought all the critical appointees from the North, and we had a wonderful session.”
However, Ndume said the momentum from those meetings fizzled out shortly after.
“He promised that it would continue, but it never happened,” he added.
While distancing Tinubu from direct blame, the senator insisted the President is being poorly served by those around him.
“You know what I’m suspecting? The President is not the problem; it is the people around the President that are the problem,” Ndume said.
He drew a sharp contrast with Tinubu’s years as Lagos governor, attributing his past success to the quality of advisers he worked with at the time.
“The President had good people around him when he was governor of Lagos; that was why he succeeded,” Ndume said. “Most of the good people are not there now. They have been sidelined.”
Ndume went further, accusing some presidential aides of living in an elite bubble far removed from the realities of ordinary Nigerians.
“He just picked people that don’t know anybody,” he said. “They only know Ikoyi and Victoria Island. And from there, they fly to London or America where their families are living. They are not even full Nigerians.
“Instead of bringing in his team that would look at him in the face and tell him the truth, he decided to surround himself with people that don’t know politics.”
The senator warned that if the grievances festering in the North are ignored, the resentment could harden and erupt decisively at the polls, turning quiet grumbling into a loud political statement.
