The lawmaker representing Borno South in the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, has declared that President Bola Tinubu would have been out on the streets protesting if another government were in power and the country faced the current challenges.

Naijaonpoint reports that Ndume made the statement during an appearance on Arise Television, where he defended his frequent criticisms of the Tinubu administration and vowed to continue speaking truth to power, regardless of political pressure.

Referencing Tinubu’s activist history, the senator reminded Nigerians that the president himself was once a fierce critic of past administrations, going as far as leading street protests.

Ndume said, “I’m a son of nobody who became somebody without knowing anybody. Ask Mr president.

“I’m not one of his dependents. I’m his ally. Let me tell you one thing that I liked and I copied from Mr. President, if we were to swap position, and I’m the President, doing the same thing that he’s doing now, he would have been on the street. He has done it before, to protest, even if the government belongs to him, if the wrong thing is happening.

“Even today, somebody from the government is saying, look, why don’t you come over? I said I will not come over. I’m a Senator. Under a normal democratic setting, the President is supposed to lobby me on issues because he doesn’t have a vote for me. I have voted for him, whether in the Senate, whether in the general election or anything.

“And you know, I strongly believe that this power or this position, I believe, Ndume believes that it is God that will give me or will take away from me, not anybody.

“But it’s a responsibility on me, and as my religion says, to speak the truth, even if I’m alone and that’s almost what is happening now in APC.

“They will come around and say, ah, you are trying, but you are hitting too hard. I said, ‘Did I use a physical punch on anybody?’”