‘Ireti Kingibe Is Petty, Expects Me To Abandon My Friend Aduda For Her’ – Wike Hits FCT Senator

Despite the thaw in their relationships which froze the war of words that began immediately after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly and the emergence of ministers, Senator Ireti Kingibe of the FCT and Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister are at it again with the latter branding the former “petty.”

Wike who’s wont to aggressive talk also said the FCT senator is sulking because Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, denied her a plum position to be the Chairman Senate Committee on the FCT.

Had Senator Kingibe emerged FCT Senate Committee Chair, that would have brought her head to head with the combative minister.

Despite not turning out to be, the pair have squared off in almost every matter that concerns the FCT, laying legitimate claims to all including the security affair.

Yet, even as both camps calmed things down for some weeks, Wike has resurrected the fight, which he said stemmed from two basic reasons —Kingibe’s inability to emerge as the Chair of the Senate Committee on the FCT and his political association with his long time friend, Philip Aduda.

Aduda, a strong member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party Wike is still on its fringes as a member, was ousted from power after turning the FCT Senate as his personal estate for more than a decade.

Riding on the populism of the Labour Party, Kingibe who failed not less than twice to head the FCT in the National Assembly won a resounding victory, consigning Aduda to his first defeat in the FCT election.

Wike said Senator Kingibe should not expect him to abandon his friend just because he had lost an election.

In a text of a media parley held in Abuja, which was obtained by THE WHISTLER, Wike, who most of the times spoke metaphorically said, “Somebody wants to be your friend. I said I don’t want to be your friend. Is it by force?

“The problem is that she wanted to be chairman of the senate committee on FCT but the senate (Godswill) president said: ‘I’m not giving you’.”

When pressed that Senator Kingibe as the FCT senator has the interest of the senatorial district at heart, the Minister interjected, “What? Are you going to supervise me? You cannot supervise me.”

He explained that he undertakes his responsibilities in an inclusive manner revealing that, “There’s nothing we have done that I have not invited the two chairmen of the FCT.”

Sending a subtle warning to the senator, Wike boomed, “Nobody can intimidate me. I was a minister before, I became a governor of one of the most important states in Nigeria and now I am a minister of FCT.

“You’re saying the minister does not carry me along. I don’t have the back. People don’t know how to go about things. It is not by intimidation,” he stated.

On how things began to unravel, he explained, “The problem is this — she ran an election against my friend Philip Aduda. And then she sees Philip Aduda everywhere with me. She said I am taking Philip everywhere instead of her, who is the senator.

“Will I abandon my friend because he failed election? People are so petty. It doesn’t make sense.”

Speaking directly to the senator, Wike said, “do the right thing” through appropriate communication.

The senator had in September 2023, criticised Wike saying that the minister was not taking her along in the scheme of things warning him that he lacked the executive powers to demolish “illegal” buildings” in the FCT.

During The rising insecurity situation in the FCT, the lawmaker also attacked the minister saying Wike had refused to respond to her calls, letters and messages.

Calls and text messages sent to both Kingibe and her Media Adviser, Nana Kazaure were not answered.