Wike blasts Ireti Kingibe as ‘illiterate’ Over Abuja loan allegations, says she’s leaving senate

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has chided the Senator representing the FCT, Ireti Kingibe, dismissing her allegations that he obtained loans for capital projects in the nation’s capital without the statutory approval of the National Assembly.

Responding to the lawmaker’s claims after inspecting some ongoing projects in Abuja on Tuesday, Wike described Senator Kingibe as “an illiterate” who lacked basic understanding of legislative processes and public finance procedures.

Speaking on the protocol required to secure official financing, Wike questioned how any government official could bypass the legislature to take a loan.

“She’s an illiterate, with all due respect, and that’s why she’s not going back to the Senate.

“If you want to take a loan, you will include it in the budget, that it is part of this budget that we are going to collect a loan.”

Dismissing Kingibe’s relevance in the FCT political landscape, the Minister asserted that the lawmaker’s tenure in the National Assembly is effectively coming to an end, claiming residents of the territory have already aligned their support with President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“I don’t want to comment about that. She’s already packing her things out. The people have made a choice; they are going to support President Tinubu and Sen. Philip Adusa, so let us not waste our time reacting to an ex-senator in all ramifications.”

Wike further suggested that the Senator’s accusations stem from confusion over the rapid pace of infrastructure development currently underway across Abuja.

He argued that after initially criticizing his administration for inactivity, Kingibe shifted her narrative upon seeing physical results on the ground.

“I thought she criticized that I’m doing nothing. So now her problem is that I took a loan. Assuming I took a loan, our concern should have been: are we applying the loan to fulfill the interest of residents?

“She believes that with the kind of infrastructure we are doing, we must have taken a loan. Too bad for her. Too bad,” Wike said.