ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Senator Ali Ndume, a lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the 9th National Assembly, has expressed shock over the performance of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general elections.
Senator Ndume said the LP’s performance is an indication that youths and the middle class are getting tired of the older generation who have been in government for decades.
He spoke when he played a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, adding that LP’s performance at the just-concluded elections surpassed his expectations.
Asked if the outcome of the polls fitted his expectations, Ndume said: “Yeah, but there were surprises in some places – Lagos, (and the) South-East. The performance of LP actually is above my expectation.”
He believes it is a sign that youths are tired of the older order.
The Senator said Labour Party performed beyond his expectations in the 2023 elections and that Peter Obi’s outing surprised him also.
The chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said he never thought that the flag bearer of the Labour Party, Peter Obi could get over six million votes at the poll over a months ago.
Asked that he never thought that Peter Obi could pull such strings, Ndume said: “Yeah, even in the general elections all over, especially. He (Obi) had six million votes.
“It goes to tell something that people don’t talk about: and that is to say that the signs are out there that the middle income group or social group and the youths are getting tired of the – do I even include myself? — upper level: people in their 70s and 80s who have been in the corridors of power since they were in their 30s.”
Ndume, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, has been in the National Assembly for 20 years.
At the 25 February, 2024 poll, APC’s Bola Tinubu, 71, came out tops in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival — former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Atiku, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the LP candidate (Obi), who, in less than a year, gathered young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533 votes.