By Onyeche Igwe
The Senator representing the FCT, Ireti Kingibe, has demanded an apology from Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister over his comments on threatening to unseat her as an FCT senator in 2027
Kingibe and Wike have not had a good working relationship since they assumed their respective offices. Both politicians have lashed out at each other on various occasions.
The minister queried Kingibe about her accomplishments for her constituents since being elected.
But the senator took offence, saying she is way older than Wike. She expressed her willingness to work with Wike if he apologises to her.
According to her, courtesy demands that Wike shouldn’t talk to her in that manner.
“He doesn’t obviously understand the concept of the FCT. If he did, it is nothing personal. He says ‘I don’t want to be her friend.’ How does governance translate into friendship?” she queried on Channels Television’s Political Paradigm.
“I’m actually willing to do doing everything to work with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory as long as he apologises first for saying I should go and hang on a transformer.
“Once he does that, it is all over. We can start afresh but until then, everybody stays in your lane. With all due respect, I am so much older than him. Even courtesy demands he should speak to me like that.”
On July 1, Wike threatened Kingibe, saying the FCT senator would not be reelected in 2027. The minister who spoke at the flag-off ceremony of the construction of the Mabushi Bus Terminal in Abuja, argued that the lawmaker has not done well since coming into office.
“If we have done well, we have done well. If we haven’t done well, we haven’t done well. I am proud to say that in the short time that President Tinubu has appointed us, we have done well,” the FCT minister said.
“You said there are no schools and hospitals. You, as a legislator, what have you done? How many bills have you sponsored for us to improve our education and health sectors?
“I challenge that legislator. If you are very popular, in 2027, come and run under Abuja; we will fail you.”
Kingibe, a Labour Party (LP) member, defeated Philip Aduda, a Wike ally in the 2023 election, to become the senator of the FCT.
Since then, Wike and Kingibe have been at loggerheads with the senator accusing the FCT minister of sidelining her despite representing the capital territory.
Wike claimed that Kingibe’s attacks on him were because she was not appointed as the chairperson of the Senate Committee on the FCT.
Amid the insecurity affecting the capital city, Senator Kingibe accused Wike of not taking her calls. She later accused him of not having the interest of FCT residents at heart.
