Wike Renews Attack on Senator Ireti Kingibe Over FCT Loan Allegations, Predicts 2027 Defeat
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike has once again declared that Senator Ireti Kingibe will not return to the National Assembly after the 2027 elections, escalating a long-running political feud after the FCT senator accused his administration of obtaining loans without the required approval of the National Assembly.
Wike made the remarks on Tuesday, September 22, while responding to journalists during an inspection of ongoing road projects in the FCT, including work on the N1 road and routes linking Tunga Madaki, Zuba and Kagini. Dismissing Kingibe’s loan allegations as reflecting a lack of understanding of government borrowing procedures, Wike said any loan taken by government must be captured within the budget and subjected to the proper approval process. “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,” he said.
Turning to Kingibe’s political future, Wike was blunt in his assessment, describing the senator as “illiterate” and insisting she had nothing meaningful to offer FCT residents. “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,” Wike said, adding that he preferred not to dignify her comments with further reaction. “I don’t want to comment about her. When the time is right, let her pack her bags out, 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,” he said.
The dispute traces back to comments Kingibe made in August, in which she said she had reviewed Debt Management Office records covering FCT borrowings between August 2023 and March 2026 and raised concerns with Senate leadership, stating she had never seen Wike appear before the National Assembly to formally seek approval for the loans. Her allegation was directly challenged by Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, who said Wike had committed no infraction and had followed due process in financing FCT projects.
Kingibe defeated Philip Aduda, a longtime Wike ally who represented the FCT in the Senate from 2011 to 2023, to win the seat in 2023 on the Labour Party platform, before later defecting to the African Democratic Congress. Wike has repeatedly signalled his intention to see her unseated in 2027, having first declared in July 2024 that he would work to defeat her, a position he has since reiterated on multiple occasions, including in March 2026, when he argued the senator had no tangible projects to show for her tenure. For her part, Kingibe has previously dismissed suggestions that Wike holds any real influence over her political fate, telling Channels Television in January that the FCT is not structured in a way that allows any single individual to determine how its residents vote.
Wike used Tuesday’s appearance to tie the ongoing dispute to the broader political calendar, noting that the ban on campaigning for the presidential and National Assembly elections had recently been lifted, and framing the administration’s visible infrastructure projects across the territory as part of its message to voters ahead of 2027. With both sides showing no signs of stepping back from the increasingly personal exchange, the rivalry between Wike and Kingibe looks set to remain a recurring flashpoint in FCT politics as the election cycle continues to unfold.
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