NDUME, Sen Ali Mohammed

a lecturer in 1983. He rose through the ranks to become senior Lecturer In 1988. He was awarded the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Post-Graduate Scholarship to study Business and Computer Education at the University of Toledo Ohio, United States of America and graduated with a B.Ed and M.Ed in 1990 and was awarded Magna Cum Laude academic honour. He was also admitted into the Phi Kappa phi academic society for outstanding performance. On graduation, Ndume returned to Nigeria and continued with his teaching career with the Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri, Borno State until 2003, when he entered politics. In 2003, Ndume was elected to represent his people for the seat of Chibok/Damboa/Gwoza Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives on the platform of ANPP: a position he occupied from 2003 – 2011. On the inauguration of the sixth (6th) Assembly in 2007, he was unanimously elected as the Minority Leader and served creditably. Due to the political disagreements in his Party in his home State of Borno, he defected from the ANPP. Just before the 2011 elections Ali Ndume decamped to the PDP, citing the injustices going on in the party as his reason for leaving the ANPP. He felt he was not being given a level playing ground with other aspirants of the ANPP in the forthcoming senatorial elections. His defection was seen as a major blow to the ANPP as Ali Ndume was seen as one of the major financier of the party. Following Ndume's defection, the PDP re-opened the sale of nomination forms. Alhaji Sanda Garba, who had been the only aspirant for the Borno South Senate seat, stepped down to make way for Ndume as the PDP candidate. Ndume won the elections for the Borno South senatorial seat. Ndume served as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on MDGs In the (7th) Senate and remained vibrant and active in the political landscape. It is worthy to note that Senator Ndume has moved several Motions and sponsored many Bills which are at various stages of passage in the Parliament notable amongst them is the Constituencies Development Fund Bill and Electoral Act Amendment Bill. Ndume was appointed to a committee established by President Goodluck Jonathan to consider opening talks with Boko Haram. According to him, a military approach would not be effective due to the impossibility of identifying the target. In his view the violence would continue until the group felt they had been heard and saw that the problems of poverty and unemployment were being addressed. His party, PDP, had problems and his faction broke away and joined the All Progressive Congress(APC). He was again re-elected in the 2015 Senatorial elections under the Platform of the APC for the Borno South Senatorial District.