By Chris Ochayi
In the early hours of a Monday in July, residents of Ngoshe, a border community in Borno South, woke to gunfire. By dusk, families were counting the missing. Within 48 hours, the familiar blame cycle began again: social media posts, press statements, and then, an accusation that has followed Senator Ali Ndume for years, that he was somehow involved in paying ransom, or playing middleman between terrorists and government.
This time, the claim came from Samaila Kaigama, President of the Borno South Youth Alliance.
Ndume’s response on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday was blunt: “I have said it before. In my entire life, I have never seen N1 billion in cash, let alone N5 billion.” He called the allegation “dangerous and baseless.”
But to understand why such claims sting, and why they keep coming, you have to go back 15 years. You have to go to Gwoza, Chibok, Damboa, and the dozens of villages in Borno South that have lived in the shadow of Boko Haram and now ISWAP.
Because if there is one public figure in Nigeria who has consistently put his name, his office, and at times his life, on the line to speak for those communities, it is Senator Ali Ndume.
This is not a story about one denial. It is a chronicle of a man who has spent more than a decade trying to protect 9 local governments from an insurgency that has killed over 35,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.
Long before Boko Haram became a household name, Ndume was already raising the alarm.
Elected to the House of Representatives in 2003 and later Senator for Borno South in 2011, he was among the first lawmakers to publicly warn that the sect was not just a “Yusufiya problem” confined to Maiduguri.
In Senate plenary and in interviews, he argued that the military approach alone would fail without intelligence, community engagement, and development in the Lake Chad basin.
In 2013, when the Federal Government declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, Ndume backed it, but also pushed for civilian protection protocols. His argument was simple: soldiers can clear territory, but only communities can hold it.
That position would later put him in direct conflict with the insurgents. In 2014, Boko Haram overran Gwoza, declared it part of a caliphate, and placed Ndume’s name on a list of “apostate” politicians to be targeted. His hometown of Gwoza was under terrorist control for months.
Borno South is not a monolith. It is 9 LGAs: Biu, Bayo, Chibok, Damboa, Gwoza, Hawul, Kwaya Kusar, Shani, and Askira-Uba. Six of them share borders with Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. That geography made it the perfect corridor for Boko Haram and later ISWAP.
From 2014 to 2017, the story in Borno South was abduction and displacement:
Chibok, April 2014, 276 schoolgirls kidnapped. Ndume was the first senator to visit the town after the abduction, despite military warnings. He pushed for a dedicated rescue task force and for families to be given a direct line to the Presidency.
Gwoza, 2014-2015, Overrun and renamed. Ndume coordinated with the Civilian JTF and IDP leaders to document deaths and missing persons. He used his office to lobby for Gwoza to be prioritized in the military counter-offensive of early 2015.
Damboa and Askira-Uba: Repeated attacks between 2016 and 2019. Ndume consistently raised them on the Senate floor, often against the advice of party leaders who preferred “quiet diplomacy.”
A 2016 report by an NGO working in IDP camps noted that Ndume’s office was one of three in Borno that maintained a weekly call-in line for communities to report attacks. The line was not for politics. It was for coordinates, casualty figures, and urgent evacuation requests.
What makes Ndume different from many of his colleagues is that he refused to go silent.
Between 2015 and 2023, Senate records show he sponsored or co-sponsored over 18 motions directly related to insecurity in the Northeast. Some of the most cited:
1. 2016: Motion on the resurgence of Boko Haram attacks in Borno South and the need for enhanced surveillance on border communities.
2018: Motion urging the FG to equip the Civilian JTF and hunters with better communication gadgets after an ISWAP attack in Rann.
2020: Motion on the killing of farmers in Zabarmari, where he argued that the problem was not just terrorists but the collapse of rural livelihoods.
2022: Motion on ISWAP’s use of drones and IEDs in the Mandara Mountains, calling for air interdiction.
In each case, his strategy was the same: drag the issue to public space. “If we don’t talk about it, Abuja will forget Ngoshe exists,” he told a town hall in Biu in 2021.
That approach earned him enemies in high places. It also earned him trust in villages where government presence was limited to the sound of gunfire.
Ndume’s defense of Borno South has not been limited to security motions. He has argued repeatedly that terrorism thrives where there is no economy.
Through constituency projects and advocacy, his office has:
Facilitated the return of IDPs* to Biu, Hawul, and Shani by lobbying NEMA and SEMA for housing materials and farm inputs.
Pushed for the reopening of the Biu-Damboa-Maiduguri road*, a critical trade route repeatedly targeted by IEDs. In 2022 he personally led a convoy of journalists on the road to prove it was passable.
– *Supported vocational training* for over 3,000 youths in Borno South, with a focus on ex-IDPs and orphans, to reduce recruitment into armed groups.
In 2020, when ISWAP began targeting fishermen in Lake Chad, Ndume moved a motion calling for a joint MNJTF operation to reclaim fishing grounds. His point: “You cannot defeat an ideology on an empty stomach.”
The latest accusation, that Ndume received ransom or acted as middleman is not new. Similar claims surfaced in 2017 during the Dapchi negotiations and again in 2020 after an attack in Auno.
Security analysts who have tracked Borno politics say the pattern is familiar. When a community is attacked and government response is slow, local actors look for someone to blame. As the most visible federal representative from Borno South, Ndume becomes the target.
“He is accessible,” said a civil society leader in Maiduguri who asked not to be named. “People can call his line. So when things go wrong, they assume he knows something. But the truth is, he has been shouting for help louder than anyone.”
On Politics Today, Ndume challenged his accusers to provide proof. “Bring evidence. I have spent my life in public service. My record is there. I have buried constituents. I have visited IDP camps when it was dangerous. I will not now turn around and collect money from the people who killed them.”
In Biu last month, a group of women who run a cooperative for widows of Boko Haram victims described Ndume as “the man who comes even when there is no camera.”
In Gwoza, a youth leader recalled how Ndume’s office helped transport 200 students who fled the 2014 school closures to write WAEC in Biu.
Even critics admit his presence. A local government chairman in Askira-Uba, who disagrees with Ndume politically, said: “Whether you like him or not, when there is an attack at 2am, his number is the one people share on WhatsApp.”
That visibility has come at a price. Ndume has survived at least two assassination attempts linked to insurgents. His convoy has been attacked. In 2015, the Senate suspended him for six months after he accused the leadership of padding the budget a move many in Borno interpreted as punishment for being too vocal on security spending.
Through it all, he has refused security details that would keep him in Abuja. He spends an average of 15 days every month in Borno South, according to his aides.
The war in Borno is not over. ISWAP still operates in the Mandara Mountains. Boko Haram factions still lay IEDs. And every attack produces grief, anger, and the search for someone to hold responsible.
In that environment, allegations are easy. Proof is hard.
Senator Ali Ndume’s record over the last 14 years is public: Senate motions, visits to attacked communities, advocacy for IDPs, and constant pressure on the military and federal government to do more for Borno South.
You can disagree with his politics. You can disagree with his style. But to claim that the man who has spent his career trying to get troops, food, and attention to Ngoshe, Chibok, and Gwoza is now working with the people who burn them requires evidence that has not been presented.
As he put it on Friday: “My people are suffering. Don’t add lies to their pain.”
For the people of Borno South, the war is not about press releases. It is about whether the next convoy gets through, whether the next harvest is safe, and whether their children can go to school without fear.
In that fight, Senator Ali Ndume has chosen to stand in front, not behind.
Chris Ochayi, an Abuja based journalist could be reached on ochayingr@gmail.com