Temitope Ajayi, the Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, has hit back at the Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, who claimed that the President is unaware of the hardship being faced by Nigerians.
Ndume, a member of the All Progressives Congress, representing Borno South, had lamented that the President is “not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa.”
He said this on Wednesday at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, saying, “Mr. President is not in the picture of what is happening outside the Villa. He has been fenced off and caged. 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 for his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, who writes press statements. Nigerians are getting very angry.”
In a tweet via his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Tinubu’s aide stated that Senator Ali Ndume had a horrible reputation for “being a loose cannon and careless talker.”
“His capacity for introspection is too low,” he posted on his handle.
He further went on to state that Ndume only remembered to comment because his personal agenda couldn’t be met.
“People like him only remember the poor and the fact that “Nigerians are suffering” when their personal agenda and indulgences can’t be met.”
Tope Ajayi made another allegation, stating that; “Senator Ndume does not remember the poor and their children when it is time to fix his own children into CBN, NNPC and other choice MDAs and state owned enterprises.”
“He made baseless and unfounded allegations against the President that he is cut off from reality of Nigerians. This President is well aware and fully abreast of the current material conditions of Nigerians and he is working very hard to deal with the challenges.”
Tope Ajayi claimed that while there were economic challenges, things were getting back in shape.
“The economy is still facing headwinds but things are gradually turning in the positive direction. A President that gets daily briefings from his team, receives cross-section of Nigerians from all strata of the society almost every day – from business leaders to religious leaders, socio-cultural groups and professional groups can’t be falsely accused of being removed from the realities of the people.”
The post was also retweeted by Bayo Onanuga, another aide to the President.
