By Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, raised the alarm on Wednesday that President Bola Tinubu had been caged by some forces in the Presidential Villa “who would not allow selfless Nigerians from having access to him.”
He stated this while speaking with journalists in his office.
Ndume had Tuesday co-sponsored the motion moved by the Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Senator Sunday Karimi, on Tuesday, titled: “Urgent Need to Address Food Insecurity and Market Exploitation of Consumables in Nigeria.”
The Senate, based on the strength of the motion, asked the Federal Government to address the issue of hunger in the country or risk the wrath of Nigerians.
Ndume lamented that appreciable progress had not been made to de-escalate the security challenge in the country, which has remained a permanent threat to food security.
Ndume said, “Mr President (Bola Tinubu) is not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa. He has been fenced off and caged. So many of us won’t go through the backdoor to engage him.
“Now they have stopped him from talking and he doesn’t have public affairs managers, except that his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, who writes press statements.
“Nigerians are getting, very angry. The government is not doing anything about the food scarcity and it needs to do something urgently. We don’t have a food reserve.
“There is unavailability of food. The food crisis is the worst crisis that any nation can encounter. If we add that to the security crisis, it will be severe. The President should wake up, it seems he isn’t in the picture of what is happening because he has been caged off.
“He has been fenced off by plutocrats. He should open his doors and meet those who will tell him the truth. Unfortunately, the people who will tell him the truth won’t struggle to meet him. I am very worried not only for the President himself but myself.”
Ndume expressed disappointment that stakeholders have not been forthright in addressing the menace of herders in the country.
He noted that the menace had also compounded the issues around food scarcity,
