L-R; FCT Senator, Ireti Kingibe and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has vowed to ensure Ireti Kingibe does not return as the Senator representing FCT in the 2027 general election.
Wike spoke at the flag-off ceremony for the construction of the Mabushi Bus Terminal on Monday, where he asked Kingibe to “hang on a transformer” if she’s dissatisfied with the accolades he’s getting from FCT residents.
Kingibe, during a programme on Arise TV, had criticised the Wike-led administration and said that she wouldn’t want to be friends with him.
“Because I am the highest elected person in FCT, the people complain to me and expect me to go through whatever authorities I need to get it sorted out.
“A few days ago, there was a fire in Abuja and it was me the people asked to get the minister to do ABC. In the past, that arrangement has always worked very well but it has not been seamless with the current minister of the FCT. I’m not sure why, but he said I claimed to be the senator and he’s not obliged to do anything with me.
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“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 a senate committee, so how does friendship arise? Why would I want to be friends with somebody I do not know. The truth of the matter is that the minister refuses to speak or communicate in any way to the senator representing the FCT. So, how are the wishes and the needs of the people to be communicated to him? Please tell me if you know a way.”
Responding, Wike said: “I overhead somebody on Arise this morning. Unfortunately I hear the person is a member of the National Assembly and It is unfortunate. With all due respect, what you don’t know, you don’t know, what you know you know, and the good thing for you is to tell people you don’t when you don’t know, then people will educate you.
“The Honorable Minister of state and my humble self have not been in office for more than 11 months and the person is angry that they are praising us. If you don’t want or you are angry about that, go and hang yourself on a transformer. If we have done well, we have done well. If we haven’t done well, we haven’t done well. I’m proud to say that in the short time that Mr. President has appointed us, we have done well.
“You said there are no hospital and there are no hospitals. You, as a legislator, what have you done? How many bills have you sponsored for us to improve our education and health sector?
“I challenge that legislator. If you are very popular, 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. Luckily for me, I am the FCT Minister now. So that is my territory and I’m not afraid.
“So, People should be able to come out and be able to accept the truth. We are not begging for anybody to become our friend, we have so many friends that we cannot even carry along. So how can we go and beg people to become our friends. We are not interested in that.
“If you are angry that people are praising us, by next year your BP level will go very high because the praises you would see would be too much.”
Meanwhile, Wike assured that the new road project would be closely monitored to ensure timely completion without cost variations.
He called on residents of Mabushi to support the project, saying “this project is going to create jobs. You need to support the company (contractor) so that we can achieve it within the time frame that they have been given. You know most contractors like community problems so that the contract will drag along, and then they will bring variation. Here, there will be nothing like variation, everything has been taken into consideration.”
During the flag-off, the minister outlined his vision for transforming Abuja into a first-class city by improving its infrastructure. He emphasised the importance of organised transportation systems in reducing insecurity and improving urban management.
“This is supposed to be one of the best cities in the world. This is supposed to be a first class city but how can it be one of the best cities in the world when the infrastructures that make that kind of city are not available? It will be difficult. A first class cannot be actualized when the infrastructures are not present.
“A city like Abuja does not have bus and taxi terminals. You will see taxis all over the place, and that, of course, is part of our insecurity problems. So, many people talk about one-chance, why won’t there be one-chance when you don’t even know the man whose bus or taxi you are entering?”
Wike further announced the construction of three new bus terminals in the Central Business District, Mabushi, and Kugbo, to address security challenges.
He mentioned that the project in the Central Business District faced setbacks due to the distortion of the Abuja Master Plan and the allocation of land meant for the terminal to private individuals.
