PREMIUM TIMES
Ireti Kingibe is the first-ever female senator to represent the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and currently one of the only four female senators in the 10th National Assembly.
The senator has recently been in the news due to a heated rift with the Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike. Mr Wike has gone as far as threatening to block her reelection in 2027, adding a twist to the political saga.
On Monday, she spoke with ARISE TV‘s Reuben Abati in an interview, during which she talked extensively about the rift between her and the FCT minister.
During the 26-minute interview, Ms Kingibe, 70, dwelt on how Mr Wike has overlooked the priority needs of the bulk of FCT people partly due to a lack of communication between her and the minister. She highlighted how this discord impacts her activities in the Senate.
She assessed President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s performance since his inauguration last year and suggested putting legislation in place to boost women’s participation in politics in Nigeria.
Falmata Daniel and Fortune Ose Eromonsele of PREMIUM TIMES bring you a transcript of the interview:
ARISE TV: Since you won your election to be the senator of the Federal Republic, one persistent complaint has been that you are not allowed to represent your people. As recently as about a week ago Senator Godswill Akpabio had to remind you that if you wanted to make a contribution to the budget for the FCT you needed to go through the process by serving a motion or notice and then raising objections, rather for you to just complain that you are being sidelined. You know you didn’t follow the process. So why would anyone sideline you, when you are representing your people who voted for you.
Senator Kingibe: Well, Reuben the truth is that I did go through the process but at this point in time I think that since we are in the process of discussion and sorting it out, I would like us to leave that and go to how my constituency is being marginalised generally.
FCT has the unique situation of having the president as the de-facto governor of the federal capital territory and he administers that territory through a minister and one elected senator and two House of Reps members; also, all members of the National Assembly because they are, in fact, the equivalent of the state assemblies for the Federal Capital Territory. They are also responsible for ensuring that the rights of the people of the FCT are maintained, just like any other state assembly.
So, it is not just that, but because I am the highest elected official in the FCT, everything that happens in the FCT the people complain to me and expect me to go through whatever authorities I need to, to get it sorted out.
A few days ago, there was a fire in Abuja, it was me they told. This is what we need, this is what must be done, you must get the minister to do this, ABCD.
In the past, that arrangement has always worked very well. But it has not been so seamless with the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. I am not sure why, but he has said that I claim that I am the senator of the FCT.
ARISE TV: You claim, or you are?
Senator Kingibe: That’s what he says. I am the senator, but he said in interviews that I claim that I am the senator of the FCT, and he is not obliged to deal with me. But I am saying that by sections 122 and 124 of the Evidence Act, he is bound by the judicial notice of the occupier of the seat of the senator of the FCT.
I am also saying that section 24 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, imbues on him a duty, that is, the honourable minister, (I am not calling any names because anybody who is the minister is bound by those same laws and duties) to abide by the constitution, to respect all its ideals, institutions and legitimate authorities entirely.
So just the same way that some Nigerians would have voted for the president, and some would not have, but as soon as he is declared the president, he becomes the president for everybody, and nobody can pick and choose who would rather be the president. And therefore, same applies to all offices regardless of party or any other position.
ARISE TV: But madam, the man you are talking about, his name is Nyesom Wike, former Governor of Rivers State, and he is now the Minister of FCT. Now he has responded to the issues you have raised. He says you want him to be your friend and that he does not want to be your friend, that is it by force? That you should leave him alone.
Senator Kingibe: Please what constitutes friendship between two people who have never met each other? I have never sat in the same room with the minister except in the senate committee. So how does friendship arise? Why would I want to be the friend of somebody I do not know?
The truth of the matter is that the minister refuses to speak or communicate in any way with the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory. So, how are the wishes and the needs of the people to be communicated to him? Please tell me if you know a way.
ARISE TV: Well, but he says he is the minister, and that he is doing his job. He has commissioned some roads, he has renamed some roads, he has built some projects. He appointed permanent secretaries, and he says he is concentrating on his work in Abuja and that he does not want blackmail. He says you are blackmailing him.
Senator Kingibe: To do what, to regard the needs of the people? The minister may be a great minister in a ministry that has no people. But the unique situation of the FCT minister is that apart from infrastructure and roads, he also has to take into consideration the needs of the people in that territory; that is the difference between him and, say, the minister of works or any other minister.
The Minister of FCT is almost acting as the governor for the president, so it’s not just being a regular minister. He says he commissioned roads. Yes, those roads were started by Mohammed Bello, and I commend him for finishing some of them. But also, just like the people took me on when those roads were commissioned, they said, ‘Madam you people are celebrating roads in Maitama, Asokoro, and the Central Business District, bulk of the people do not live there’. Show me the projects where the people live; that’s the difference. It’s almost like the governor telling you that he built some roads, so he does not care what the needs of the people are.
They have needs so it’s not good enough. The people are not impressed. I commend him because I see that some things are being done but at the end of the day, they do not have water. The fire that happened in Karu could have been prevented if there was water. But I don’t know if you know Abuja, any fire truck has to go all the way to Asokoro to get water, to spray the fire and then come back, not to talk about the fact that there were no access roads into the market and a whole litany of issues. Who do you think is going to sort out those issues? The minister? But the people are going to tell the senator not the minister. The same way insecurity, the people ‘scream senator, senator, senator’.
Senator says minister sort insecurity, he says he does not have to speak to me, so I spoke to him on Channels, just like a lot of the issues that I am going to bring up today he will hear from Arise.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM TIMES
