The political feud between Senator Ireti Kingibe and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, intensified this week because the lawmaker delivered a scathing evaluation of Wike’s management, accusing him of performing like an “emperor” and failing to prioritize the wants of Abuja residents.
In a televised interview aired Tuesday on Channels Tv’s Political Paradigm, Kingibe criticized Wike’s strategy to governance within the capital, saying his administration has left vital sectors like healthcare, safety, and infrastructure in decline.
“I made a decision to tone down my public criticism of him as a result of I assumed it could assist get growth to my folks,” Kingibe mentioned. “However it’s made no distinction — he has an emperor mentality.”
Kingibe, elected beneath the Labour Party (LP), lamented that Wike, a member of the Folks’s Democratic Party (PDP) at present serving beneath the ruling APC-led administration, has excluded her from key finances discussions for the FCT.
She additionally alleged that workers within the territory are owed salaries, regardless of the minister’s guarantees of transformation.
The senator painted a grim image of life in Abuja, highlighting rising insecurity, together with frequent kidnapping and “one-chance” robberies.
She famous that many metropolis roads stay in darkness on account of non-functional streetlights, circumstances that she says additional expose residents to felony assaults.
READ ALSO: FCT Senator Ireti Kingibe Says Residents Will Reject Wike at LG Polls
“Wike has not made life higher for the folks of Abuja. We’re seeing extra insecurity, and infrastructure is deteriorating,” she mentioned, whereas arguing that former FCT Minister Nasir El-Rufai carried out much better as compared.
Kingibe revealed that she as soon as tried to succeed in out to Wike within the spirit of collaboration however was abruptly minimize off mid-call — a transfer she later reported to Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The rift between the 2 politicians has simmered since they each assumed workplace — Wike in August 2023 and Kingibe two months earlier.
Their political and ideological variations, exacerbated by occasion strains and governance type, have continued to play out within the media and on the ground of the Senate.
With tensions escalating and the capital metropolis grappling with rising insecurity and underfunded companies, residents now look to the federal authorities for intervention and clearer route on how Abuja’s management disaster will probably be resolved.
