BY OBUTE JAMES
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume on Monday after a closed door meeting with Vice President Yemi Osibanjo
said he will not abandon his ambition to become the next Senate President.
Ndume also said he is not relying on the support of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in order to achieve his ambition.
Ali-Ndume, a former Senate Leader who represents Borno South in the Senate, said he would not step down for any opponent, but that he was still consulting on the matter.
Ali-Ndume, arrived the closed-door meeting about 3.24pm, and came out of the venue around 4.18pm, declining to give any elaborate interview to waiting State House correspondents.
But the reporters still asked him whether he had yielded to pressure from the APC to step down for the preferred party choice, Senator Ahmed Lawan.
With a look of surprise on his face, Ali-Ndume responded, “Me, step down? I am still consulting.”
On the rumours that he was banking on forging an alliance with the PDP, Ali-Ndume ruled it out on the grounds that the opposition considered him to be an “enemy.”
He stated, “Me that is regarded as enemy by opposition?”
Apart from Lawan, Senator Danjuma Goje and Senator Abdullahi Adamu are also on the race to succed the outgoing Senate President, Bukola Saraki.