By Joyce Ekeh
Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike, On Tuesday declared that Senator Ireti Kingibe would not return to the National Assembly in 2027, as he dismissed her allegation that the FCT Administration obtained loans without the approval of the National Assembly.
Wike, who also described the senator as an “illiterate”, said the borrowings undertaken by the FCT Administration followed due process and were captured in budgets approved by the National Assembly.
The minister spoke while responding to journalists during an inspection of ongoing road projects in Abuja; days after Kingibe renewed her criticism of the FCT Administration’s borrowing.
Kingibe had earlier alleged that the FCT had taken loans without the required legislative approval, saying she had reviewed Debt Management Office, DMO, records covering borrowings between August 2023 and March 2026. She also said she had raised the matter with the leadership of the Senate.
But Wike rejected the allegation, insisting that no government could simply obtain a loan without legislative approval.
He said: “She is an illiterate, with all due respect, and that is why she is not going back to the Senate. She has nothing to offer to the people of the FCT.
“There is no way you can go and take a loan without the approval of the National Assembly. Anyone, take a loan, you will include it in the budget that this aspect of this budget, the government is going to collect loan.”
The minister said the focus should rather be on how borrowed funds were being used to improve infrastructure and the lives of residents.
“I thought she would criticise that I am doing nothing. So if her problem is that I took a loan, if I took a loan, I am using it to work,” Wike said.
“I thought her concern would have been: are we applying the loan to work for the interest of residents? She believes that we can’t run infrastructure without loans, and that we must have taken a loan, that is her problem.”
Wike said he did not intend to continue responding to Kingibe’s criticisms, insisting that residents of the FCT had already made their political choice.
“I don’t want to comment about her. When the time is right, let her pack her bags out,” he said.
“The people have made their choice by agreeing to support President Tinubu, and then will support Philip Aduda for Senate. So, let us not waste our time reacting to inferiors who failed in all ramifications. I don’t want to react to it, I am above that.”
Kingibe’s allegation has generated a wider debate over the financing of FCT infrastructure. In September, Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, dismissed the allegation, saying there was no evidence that Wike had breached the law in financing projects and programmes in the territory.
Wike also linked the latest criticism to the political season, saying the lifting of the campaign ban for the 2027 presidential and National Assembly elections had made the inspection of projects part of the political contest.
“When is the time to campaign? Look at what we are doing. That is the campaign,” he said.
“The ban on campaign has been lifted for the President and National Assembly, am I not right? As I finish now, then she know what we are doing, and they are seeing every road, and tell everyone that this is what President Tinubu is doing.
“Who will see what Mr President is doing and will say that he will vote for another person? That is not correct. So, I am doing my job. While we are doing an inspection of the project, we are also doing a campaign.”
The minister, who inspected several ongoing road projects across the FCT, including the N1 road and stretches from Tunga Madaki through Zuba and Kagini, said he was satisfied with the level of work recorded.
According to him, completion of the projects would improve economic activities in rural communities and directly benefit residents.
Wike said the happiness and improved welfare of residents remained the essence of governance, stressing that the infrastructure projects were designed to open up communities and stimulate economic activities.
