By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor & Ndahi Marama
SENATOR Mohammed Ali Ndume who was, yesterday, spending a second straight day in isolation in the custody of the State Security Service, SSS, is ironically a man of the crowds.

His popularity defied the stereotype of political success in his native Borno State. His popularity with the crowd was weaved on a fam

Suspected financier of Boko Haram and serving Senator, Ali Ndume, at the Magistrate Court, Abuja,

ed philanthropy and down to earth approach with the electorate.

He is from the ethnic Gwoza tribe in Southern Borno but his popularity in the Kanuri dominated political culture had recently spurn speculations that he could become the first non Kanuri to govern the State.

Ndume’s political career commenced after a stint as a lecturer at the Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri, with his successful contest for a seat to represent the Gwoza, Damboa, Chibok Federal Constituency in the 2003 general elections. His success on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, was largely instrumental to the political tsunami orchestrated by the successful gubernatorial campaign of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

He was a vocal member of the House in his two terms and in his second term his fortune rose as he emerged the House Minority Leader. He was particularly a harsh critic of the PDP, a party he dismissed repeatedly on the floor and outside for failing Nigerians. He particularly delighted critics of the PDP with his laced oratorical powers with which he used in denouncing the party that was to lift him to the zenith of his political aspirations.

Loyal associate

Ndume made two attempts to climb to the Senate. In his first attempt he was allegedly stopped by Governor Sheriff who preferred a second term for his loyal associate, Senator Omar Hambagda. Sheriff’s attempt to stop Ndume for a second time in 2011, however, led to the collapse of their relationship as Ndume crossed over to the PDP on whose platform he trounced Sheriff’s anointed candidate, Mrs. Asabe Vilita Bashir, who was also Sheriff’s Commissioner for Women Affairs.

Though a member of the PDP, Ndume’s politics on the Senate floor may not have been totally pleasing to the party Senate whips. He has been trenchant in his denunciation of the proposal to withdraw fuel subsidy telling Vanguard in an interview that the proposal was anti-people and unconstitutional.

He once said: “So what they are trying to do is unconstitutional. As far as I am concerned they should forget about it because Nigerians have clearly rejected it. I don’t think it is right to remove fuel subsidy now that we don’t have power, the refineries are not working, most businesses and homes depend on fuel to power their generators. To remove subsidy now is to create confusion and create problem in the country.”

On the Boko Haram insurgency, Senator Ndume was part of the Borno State National Assembly delegation that called for amnesty for the insurgents and for the removal of the military JTF from the state on account of reckless killings of innocent civilians.