The Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed Senator Ireti Kingibe’s allegations that he obtained loans for capital projects in the nation’s capital without National Assembly’s statutory approval.
Wike, while reacting to the allegation in Abuja on Tuesday after inspecting some ongoing projects, argued that Kingibe lacked basic understanding of legislative processes and public finance procedures.
Speaking on the protocol required to secure official financing, the minister questioned how any government official could have bypassed the legislature to obtain a loan.
“That’s why she (Kingibe) is not going back to the senate. Do non-lawyers know where we can go and take a loan without the approval of the National Assembly?
“If you want to take a loan, you will include it in the budget. It is part of the budget that we are going to collect a loan to execute some projects in the FCT,” he said.
Dismissing Kingibe’s relevance in the FCT political landscape, Wike asserted that the lawmaker’s tenure in the National Assembly was effectively coming to an end.
He claimed that residents of the territory had already aligned their support with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and Philip Aduda, who represented FCT in the 7th, 8th and 9th Senate.
“She’s already packing her things out. The people have made a choice; they are going to support President Tinubu and Aduda. So let us not waste our time reacting to an ex-senator in all ramifications,” he said.
Wike alleged that the senator’s accusations stemmed from confusion over the rapid pace of infrastructure development currently underway across Abuja.
He argued that after initially criticising his administration for inactivity, Kingibe shifted her narrative upon seeing physical results on the ground.
“I thought she criticised 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 fulfil 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,” he said.