Why I Kicked Against FAAN, CBN Departments Relocation To Lagos – Ndume

The Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, has said his rejection of the proposed movement of the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and some departments in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Lagos is not sentimental.

Recall that Ndume had said there would be political consequences for moving the FAAN head office and some offices of the apex bank to Nigeria’s commercial centre.

Speaking with TheCable on Monday, the senator representing Borno South in the National Assembly insisted that his comments were borne out of patriotism for the country.

The fiery lawmaker also said his comments that there would be political consequences for the relocation of the offices from Abuja to Lagos were the truth.

Ndume admitted that although he has a child who works in the CBN, that did not stop him from expressing his views on the relocation.

He said: “Even if my ward is working in CBN, is she the only person that is going to be transferred to Lagos? There are hundreds of people who plan to move to Lagos. Whenever an issue like this crops up, instead of addressing the issue, the people and some of the reporters will now concentrate on the messenger, not the message.

“So this is the kind of distraction, let us discuss. Is it necessary at this time to relocate some of these departments and agencies of government back to Lagos. Why was the capital moved from Lagos to Abuja? Was it not because of congestion, because of inconveniences, or because of inefficiencies?

“And since then, Lagos has been expanding. This argument that they are forwarding is that it is for efficiency. What efficiency? In today’s world, where you can do transactions electronically, you can do meetings by Zoom, you can communicate by WhatsApp, and you can transfer documents by PDF. There is no excuse there [the decision to move CBN, FAAN to Lagos].

“Coming to the political issue, yes, it must have consequences because when Tinubu was elected, he was not appointed, he was elected.

“Then even if I have a ward there, my daughter or my son or whatever, which I do, I should not say anything if I see something wrong going on; I should not speak because my daughter is there; that does not work.

“You see, somebody has to stand up to speak the truth. That is what I am trying to do.

“Let’s say I have a ward in CBN. Is there anything wrong with that? My daughter, for example, or my son or whatever, because I am a politically exposed person, does that take the right of my ward or my relative to work in CBN? That is one.”

Speaking further, Ndume expressed confidence that Tinubu will take the right action on the issue because he knows that there will be political consequences.

He added: “I am in APC and proud of APC. One of the staunch supporters of Mr President.

“Unfortunately, the people outside are trying to be more catholic than the pope. The pope knows me very well, that is Tinubu, he knows I speak the truth. Tinubu will do something because he knows I spoke the truth. There will be political consequences.

“Haven’t you seen the reaction from the Katsina elders? Northerners generally are against this move. Is it not true that he will seek the votes of northerners in 2027?

“Is it not true that northerners again or the opposition will take advantage of this too? Now they [section of the north] are telling us ‘we told you that this man is a tribalist, look at what he is doing. In one year, he has started making moves to hurt the North’.”