The Senator representing Borno South, Ali Ndume, says President Bola Tinubu succeeded as governor of Lagos because he worked with competent and experienced people.

The lawmaker spoke on Wednesday while featuring on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on ‘Arise Television’. “The president had good people around him when he was the governor of Lagos; that was why he succeeded,” Ndume said.

“Most of the good people are not there… they have been sidelined.” Ndume criticised some of the president’s current aides, describing them as disconnected from the country’s political realities.

“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.” The lawmaker said such advisers lack a proper understanding of Nigerian politics. “So they are not even full Nigerians,” Ndume said.

“These people don’t know politics.” Ndume said Tinubu is focused on winning the next election but must first address growing discontent, particularly in northern Nigeria. “Mr President, I think, as a politician, as somebody who has gone through it all, is strategising to win the election, but not to declare himself as the winner,” he said. “Because you only do that when you are acceptable to the people.”

The former senate leader said claims that the north is not aggrieved are inaccurate. “In the north, anybody that tells you that the north is not grumbling now is not speaking the truth,” he said. Asked how significant the discontent is, Ndume said it would be reflected at the polls. “It will be loud in their votes if nothing is done about it,” he said. He added that the president still has an opportunity to reverse the situation.

“The good thing about it, as I have said here before, is that the president can change things, can turn things around,” he said. Ndume said northern elders had reached out to the president in the past to raise concerns.

“I was part of the meeting that we had — the first and the last meeting — with Mr President, where northern elders went to him,” he said. He shared that Tinubu had promised sustained engagement with the northern political elite during the meeting. “We had a wonderful session, and he promised that that will continue, and it never happened,” he added.