The senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has accused the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, of running the affairs of the nation’s capital in an autocratic manner, insisting that the minister believes governance should be driven solely by his personal decisions.
Kingibe made the remarks on Thursday while speaking on Politics Today on Channels Television.
“The minister thinks governance is about what he alone thinks and what he alone wants,” she said.
The lawmaker lamented that her efforts to engage the minister on issues affecting residents of the FCT had yielded no positive response, despite repeated attempts at collaboration.
“If the minister were my younger brother, he wouldn’t behave this way. I am only about governance,” Kingibe stated.
She said she had formally written to the minister on several occasions, expressing her readiness to work with him in order to deliver democratic dividends to residents of the capital.
“You can see the letters I have written to the minister, all of them telling how I am willing to work with him; the minister is not willing to work with anybody,” she said.
According to her, Wike has also failed to work with senior officials within the FCT administration.
“The minister is not willing to work with the FCDA people; he is not willing to work with the Mandate Secretary,” Kingibe added.
Her comments followed a broadcast by Wike in which he declared a curfew in the FCT ahead of the forthcoming council elections. The minister also announced Friday as a work-free day and imposed a restriction of movement from 8 p.m. on Friday to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Faulting the decision, Kingibe described the measure as excessive and unnecessary, noting that there were no security concerns in the capital to justify such an action.
“If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is fully prepared, the security forces are all in place, what is the need for this draconian measure? There is no need,” she said.
She expressed surprise that a long curfew would be imposed for a local government election.
“From 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, just because we have a local government election? I have lived here for a very long time. This is the first time that any minister would ever find it necessary,” she stated.
Kingibe further said the restriction would severely affect residents and diplomatic activities in the nation’s capital.
“Even when there was a protest, they didn’t put in a 22-hour curfew, not to talk of just a local government election in a capital where embassies all are, high commissions, ECOWAS Secretariat. A lot of people are forbidden to move around tomorrow,” she said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is scheduled to conduct elections across the six area councils of the FCT, alongside bye-elections in constituencies in Rivers and Kano states.
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