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examines the cold war between Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and the senator representing Federal Capital Territory at the National Assembly, Senator Ireti Kingibe, and implications of the supremacy battle>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
The 2027 general election may be two years away but the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike and the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, have kick-started the brickbat that usually characterise build-up to such polls.
The two politicians are seemingly fighting over the soul of the country’s seat of power, with the minister saying that the senator will not be re-elected in 2027. The two leaders cannot see eye to eye, as much as they are saddled with the same responsibility of promoting and developing the FCT.
No one has been able to explain the origin of the beef between the two political figures, but it is understood that differences in political affiliation may have triggered the initial animosity before it blossomed into full-time hatred and cross-verbal attacks, leading to the bullying of the senator.
But the duo have taken the fight from a silent feud to open attacks, thereby, becoming a cause for debate as to who is right and who is wrong.
Wike’s grouse
Wike had lambasted Kingibe, accusing her of blackmailing him instead of communicating her problems through the right channels or better still focus on her oversight functions. Speaking in an interview with journalists in Abuja, Wike stated that the lawmaker is aggrieved because the Senate President snubbed her for the position of the Senate Committee on FCT.>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
His words: “I don’t want to be personal… she’s the senator for FCT. She went around saying ‘Wike is busy scraping roads… I should leave the roads till when the potholes come? Somebody wants to be your friend and you say ‘I don’t want to be your friend. Is it by force?’
The problem is that she wanted to be chairman, the Senate Committee on FCT and the Senate President said ‘I’m not giving you’. “What are you going to supervise me? You cannot supervise me. What is her interest, that I must see her? If I have a problem I’ll go and see her. I don’t have a problem.
Nobody can intimidate me. Look, I was a minister before. I became a governor of one of the most important states in Nigeria and she thinks that the only way you can bring me down is to go to Channels, TVC, saying the minister is not carrying me along.
“I don’t have the back to carry. It’s not about blackmailing. Do the right thing. You know her problem? She ran for election with my friend Philip Aduda and she sees me taking Philip everywhere instead of her being the senator. Should I abandon my friend because he failed the election?”
Wike, who spoke at the flag-off ceremony of the construction of the Mabushi bus terminal, added: “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. 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 popular, in 2027, come and run under Abuja; we will fail you.
Do you think that what happened last time will happen again? It will not happen again. If you are popular, come and run. Luckily for me, I am the FCT minister now. “So, here is my territory, and I am not afraid. People should be able to accept the truth.
We are not begging for anybody to be our friend. We have so many friends that we cannot even carry them along. So, how can we go and beg people to be our friends? We are not interested in that.”
Kingibe position
Before Wike’s outburst, Senator Kingibe has earlier complained that the Minister of FCT has shunned all her approaches to synergise for the benefit of the Abuja residents since she’s a direct interface of the people as an elected representative.
The senator made it clear that she is not interested in the friendship of Wike, who she only knows from a distance, but in working together to answer to the needs of the FCT residents, whom both of them have been mandated to serve at the moment.
Speaking in an interview with Arise Television, the senator said taking into cognizance that Wike addresses her as one, who claims her senatorial role: “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 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, the same applies to all offices regardless of party or any other position.
“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.”
Opposition parties call for caution
As the cold war brews, opposition parties have urged President Tinubu to call Wike to order. The Labour Party requested disciplinary action against Wike, emphasising that he is a presidential appointee, whereas the residents of the FCT elected Kingibe. The party’s chairman in FCT, Peter Dugwu, said Wike’s remarks against Senator Kingibe were also an attack on the LP, which she represents.
He declared that the LP plans to respond to Wike during the upcoming Area Councils’ election in the FCT, setting the stage for the 2027 general election. “We do not know on whose authority he is speaking. We want him to know that. This is not Rivers, and the FCT is not an extension of Rivers state. It is the LP that would decide whether Ireti is coming back or not, not Wike.
He has no right or locus to ask her to go and focus on 2027; that is not his business,” he said. Similarly, the National Chairman of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Dr Ajuji Ahmed, criticised Wike’s comments about Senator Kingibe, calling them verbal violensce. He emphasised that Wike does not have the authority to prevent other politicians from being re-elected since he was not responsible for their initial appointments.
He said: “That (the attack) amounts to verbal violence because there is no reason why he (Wike) should do that. He is not in the LP. It was LP that elected her. He has nothing to do with LP and he is not the entire electorate of the FCT. There is no way somebody can stop someone from being re-elected in three years.
It’s not a savoury statement.” A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mohammed Ndarani, who also spoke on the issue, however, urged Wike and Senator Kingibe to cooperate for the FCT’s development. Ndarani, who made the call in an interview, said if Wike and Kingibe work together, they would bring positive change for the greater good of Nigeria.
“It is imperative for all stakeholders, both elected and appointed, to work together and abide by guiding rules of their different offices to strengthen one another as one big family.”
The senior lawyer said Nigeria could not achieve greater success without support for another among its leaders and craved the indulgence of all warring parties to let peace reign.
“They should sheath their swords, put their differences aside and work for the common good of the people of the FCT. Wike was appointed to serve the people of the FCT, and Kingibe was elected to serve the people of the FCT. So, they should work together and think about the greater good of the people.
The people of FCT look up to them to bring succour to the challenges they are facing but when two elephants fight, the grass suffers,” he said. Ndarani noted that although the two leaders were not from the same political party, previous elective and appointed officers of the FCT from different parties had always found a way of working together.
He equally pointed out that they have different roles to play in their respective positions, but all aimed ultimately to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people.
“Section 302 of the 1999 constitution, says that the President may, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by Section 147 of this Constitution, appoint for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, a Minister who shall exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him by the President, from time to time.
While Ireti’s office as provided under Section 48 of the 1999 constitution makes laws for the peace and good governance of the people of Nigeria including the FCT.
“The functions and duties of the two offices are distinct but they must work together for the common good of the people of Nigeria and the FCT. Wike is not answerable to the senator, just like the senator is not answerable to the minister either, they are both answerable to the president and the citizens of Nigeria.
To me, Wike’s developmental strides in the FCT are very commendable and he ought to be encouraged to do more with the cooperation and support of the distinguished senator.
“The ultimate goal here is the people, no minister has ever reported to any senator. Past FCT ministers and senators did not come from the same party, but they worked in synergy. Media war will not bring development to the people, cooperation is the key.”>>>CONTINUE FULL READING HERE
