By Kenneth Ojeogu

For the past two weeks, the media have been awash with reports on the misunderstanding between the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, Hajia Ireti Heebah Kingibe, and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

Recall that Kingibe complained that although she is a member of the Senate Committee on FCT, Wike does not involve her in any of his official activities, including putting together the FCT budgets.

 She also pointed out that the roads being constructed in Abuja by the Minister do not really address the real needs of majority of FCT residents. She went further to express her suspicion that the Minister gets FCT budgets approved with the assistance of his good friend, Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

Prior to this, Kingibe had complained that the FCT Minister was sidelining her and that he takes former Senator Phillip Aduda with him whenever he is going to inspect or commission projects in the FCT.

This seemed to have abated until recently when the former senator resurfaced in Wike’s entourage.

On his part, the former Rivers State governor made it clear that Aduda is his friend and that he has the right to move around with whoever he wishes. “Friendship is not by force”, Wike asserted, alleging that Kingibe is angry because she was not made the head of the Senate Committee on FCT.

Recall what transpired between the two officials last year during a budget presentation by the Minister; the drama that ensued when the senator disagreed with the Minister’s presentation of a budget of N1.2tr that she claimed focused mainly on elites, ignoring the need of the masses; how she specifically, objected to the Abuja Cultural Centre Project, explaining that the economy was not conducive enough for such a project and insisted that such funds should better be channeled towards projects with direct impact on the masses. Kingibe suggested suspending the project but Wike strongly objected, arguing that a project that had gulped about N40 billion could not be set aside for any reason. To buttress his point, the FCT minister asked the senator if her children would not be visiting the facility for relaxation, when completed.

Early last week, following an interview Kingibe had with Arise Television in which she criticized Wike’s pattern of developing the FCT and, once again, called for synergy between her office and that of the Minister, Wike, 56, asked Kingibe, 70, during the flag-off ceremony of the construction of Mabuchi Bus-stop Terminal Abuja, to go and hang herself on electric transformer (meaning go and commit suicide), if she did not like the type of development taking place in the FCT. He also challenged her popularity in the FCT, asking her to come out and contest election come 2027, saying she would fail. He emphasized that what happened in 2023 will not happen again; that as the Minister in charge of the FCT, the territory is now his.

Surprisingly, amidst a wide condemnation of the Minister’s statement, Senate President Akpabio, during the flag-off ceremony of another bus terminal in the Kugbo, Abuja, talked down on his colleague, Kingibe, for saying that the roads being constructed in FCT do not address the real needs of majority of the people the way security, water and education would impact, describing them as a distraction.

The Senate President asked Wike not to allow himself to be distracted by Kingibe, noting that the FCT Senator is a member of the Red Chamber and as such, must abide by any decision taken by the legislature.

Recall also what happened last month when Kingibe brought the attention of the Senate to the fact that though she is a member of the Senate Committee on FCT, whenever critical matters like budgets or anything that has to do with FCT are being discussed, she was never told, even as she is the senator representing the Abuja Senatorial Disctrict. Can we still remember how the Senate session, presided over by Akpabio, asked Kingibe to prepare and present her complaint as a motion the following day and how the Senate reportedly adjourned to a closed door session, where the Supplementary Budget of N98.5b was quickly passed and, again, the rest became history?

Ojeogu lives in Abuja