Senator Ali Ndume: Teacher, Entrepreneur, Leader -By Iliyasu Garga

Senate Leader, Ali Ndume

From the rocky and mountainous terrain of Gwoza to the alluvial lecture halls of Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri. That is how the journey for Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume the Leader of the 8th Senate, all began.

Earlier, after finishing from Gadamayo Primary School in Gwoza, young Ndume proceeded to Comprehensive Secondary School Mubi in now Adamawa State for his WASC and passed with Division One. From thence he went on to study Marketing in Kaduna Polytechnic where he obtained OND and HND in 1980 and 1982 respectively. He was cut-out early in life for leadership position as he spent over 20 years from 1983 till his foray into partisan politics in the lecture halls of Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri as a lecturer imbibing in students attributes and values that will help them to be successful in life.

He had indicated, in one of the interviews he granted lately, how elated he was when a young man accosted him at the Lagos Airport to introduce himself as his student of Cost and Management Accounting at Ramat Polytechnic in the late 90s. The said student works in an oil company as a senior manager today.

In 1990 after he returned from United States of America where he had gone for post-graduate scholarship to study Business and Computer Education in University of Toledo in America, he was psyched on how to help his people. Despite his steady rise through the rung of life’s ladder, Ndume said he was well guided by this popular saying: “The eagle flies atop the sky but never lost sight of what happens aground”. He had not forgotten his childhood, the challenges of potable drinking water in Southern Borno. That Gwoza and environs are mountainous, rocky and on a high terrain, the waterbed is very low and covered with strong rocks. Drillers are, therefore, reluctant to undertake drilling activity within that locality. The entrepreneurship zeal in him came to the fore as he established a drilling company called Water Ventures, with this he drills boreholes in Southern Borno at subsidised rate thereby using one stone to kill three birds. Yes: He provided employment opportunities, drilled boreholes at subsidised rates and also provided potable water for his people. This venture is still operational till date.

Ndume was elected in 2003 to represent Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza federal constituency in the House of Representatives; prior to that, he had teamed up with some other like minds to form The Buhari Organisation (TBO) in Kaduna. This was the vehicle used for President Buhari’s unsuccessful bid to Aso Rock in 2003. This is a pointer that his political relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari did not start today. He has been a consistent Buharist for nearly two decades.

He was re-elected in 2007 into the House of Representatives and that was when he got elected unopposed to the position of Minority Leader as his party ANPP then was in the minority. His political sagacity, leadership qualities, reach and acceptability amongst his people made it possible for him to switch parties within 100 days to the 2011 general elections and still won the Senate seat of Southern Borno. It was a decision he had to take because the leadership of his party, as constituted then, denied him the ticket.

Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume (aka MAN) would later align with 20 of his colleague senators in 2014 to form n PDP which saw to the decimation of PDP. They later moved into APC. These and other factors helped clinch victory for APC in 2015 elections.

The Leader of the 8th Senate Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume has brought finesse, maturity and the culture of ‘everybody is important’ to the floor of the Senate. This was made manifest on the way he canvassed for support, reached out and ensured that all the APC’s ministerial nominees were screened and confirmed. A feat which earned him accolades from the party and constituents. These days the debates on the floor of the Senate are filled with so much intelligentsia, the intra and inter-party relationships have greatly improved.

For us, back at home, we have an illustrious son that is not only making us proud despite our challenges, but has also succeeded in writing the name of Southern Borno and indeed the entire state, in bold letters, on Nigeria’s political map. Interesting times await Nigerians as the change agent Ali Ndume is a senator to watch.

–Garga, a political affairs analyst, resides in Maiduguri