Abuja
Tinubu’s Biggest Mistake Is Making Wike Minister Says Ireti Kingibe
Tinubu’s Biggest Mistake Is Making Wike Minister Says Ireti Kingibe
Tinubu’s biggest mistake is making Wike minister says Ireti Kingibe. Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the federal capital territory (FCT), says President Bola Tinubu’s greatest political blunder was appointing Nyesom Wike as minister.
Speaking during an interview with Arise TV on Monday, Kingibe said Wike’s leadership style is autocratic and marked by “total disregard for the constitution”.
“The primary thing is that the minister doesn’t obey the rule of law. He’s autocratic. He doesn’t follow any rules or any laws. And when you try to draw his attention that governance is based on laws, the rule of law, he doesn’t accept that,” Kingibe said.
The senator accused Wike of reinstating scrapped agencies without legal backing.
“Minister Nyesom Wike has brought back agencies without the enabling laws. If he wants these things, he should ask the national assembly to create the enabling laws.
But he doesn’t, because he’s just autocratic. He feels, ‘I can do anything’,” she said.
Kingibe also alleged that Wike revoked 7,000 out of 11,000 hectares of land allocated to the University of Abuja, in violation of the Land Use Act.
“Abuja University had approximately 11,000 hectares. Minister Wike has revoked 7,000 of it and left them with four. It is definitely against the Land Use Act for you to take land from institutions to give them to individuals,” she said.
Kingibe said Wike’s actions have led to job losses and growing discontent among FCT residents.
“Every minister has come and found the streets being cleaned by indigent women. Even when some ministers come and want to bring mechanical street sweepers, we say No. This is a source of livelihood for our indigent women, widows and other underprivileged women,” she said.
“He comes, he’s fired them all… Then he doesn’t replace them with mechanical street sweepers. So, Abuja is looking dirty.”
On the issue of “unpaid” local contractors, Kingibe said Wike refused to pay hundreds of small indigenous businesses.
“There are these people called Abuja Small Indigenous Contractors… maybe about four or five hundred of them that had not been paid,” the senator said.
“He says, no, he’s not paying them. He didn’t give them the job. And that’s that. He didn’t. Two years on, they haven’t been paid.”
Reacting to recent polls that rated Wike’s performance positively, she questioned their credibility.
“If truly, Minister Wike is as popular as… You’re talking about that poll, depending on who conducted the poll and how it was conducted,” she said.
“I’m not knocking it, but I am saying local government elections are coming in a few months.
“When we come to any kind of election, can he tell the people, go and do this and they do it? If he can’t, then it means that all that any minister has been doing is blustering and carrying on and just making noise.”
Kingibe said President Tinubu’s decision to empower Wike politically has hurt his administration.
“It’s my personal opinion that that is rather unfortunate, because if I were making a list of all the things that President Tinubu has done wrong, the greatest wrong he’s done to himself, the thing that has demarcated him the most has been on Minister Wike,” she said.
Kingibe accused Wike of revoking land meant for a general hospital in Bwari and replacing it with commercial development.
Wike and Tinubu
“In Bwari, there’s land allocated for a general hospital. Minister Wike revokes it and he’s having some sort of a market or mall or something put on it,” she said.
The senator said the minister has been harassing embassies and institutions over ground rent.
“Minister Wike has been harassing all of FCT over ground rent… including embassies,” she said.
She said she plans to submit documents to the appropriate oversight bodies to challenge Wike’s actions.
“I’m going to take those documents and go to the body, the equivalent of his state assembly, and insist that that assembly, the president from whom Wike derives his powers goes back to the National Assembly for approval for everything,” she added.
“Wike, who is deriving powers from him, does not go to the national assembly for anything except budget. TSA, all his IGR, what has he done with it? He’s never accounted for anything.”
On the possibility of collaboration for the benefit of the FCT, Kingibe said Wike has ignored her attempts to reach out.
FCTA Confirms Antivenom Stock, Warns Negligent Hospitals, Gives Emergency Lines
FCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency lines. The FCTA said all public hFCTA confirms antivenom stock, warns negligent hospitals, gives emergency linesospitals have sufficient antivenom after singer Ifunanya Nwangene’s death at FMC Jabi. Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe warned facilities to follow protocols or face sanctions, stressing that early treatment is critical.
FCTA
The territory has added 12 ambulances, improved ICUs, and centralized antivenom storage.
Residents are urged to use emergency lines 090157892931 or 090157892932.
FCT Police Warn NLC Against Planned Abuja Protest, Say Proscribed Groups Plot To Hijack
FCT Police warn NLC against planned Abuja protest, say proscribed groups plot to hijack. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command has warned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against its planned protest scheduled for Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The NLC leadership had fixed February 3 for a solidarity rally along with members of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Joint Union Action Committee (JUAC) at the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) secretariat in Garki Area 11.
The NLC declared that the rally is to publicly affirm that “an injury to one is an injury to all”, adding that the Nigerian labour movement will not abandon its members.
On January 24, the labour body declared support for the indefinite strike by workers of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), describing the action as “necessary and heroic” in response to alleged violation of workers’ rights.
In a statement, Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said the labour union stood “in very strong solidarity” with FCTA workers under the aegis of JUAC.
Ajaero described the strike as “a necessary and heroic response to a vicious cocktail of neoliberal attacks, gross administrative impunity, and a systematic violation of the fundamental rights of workers by the FCTA management and its political leadership”.
However, in a statement on Monday, Josephine Adeh, FCT police spokesperson, said the command respects the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, but noted that intelligence reports indicate “plans by proscribed groups and other non-state actors to infiltrate and hijack the protest, posing a risk to public peace and safety”.
Adeh said in the interest of public safety, the organisers should consider rescheduling the protest to prevent any breakdown of law and order and to protect lives, property, and the rights of other residents.
Police
“The Command remains committed to safeguarding all lawful activities and urges residents to continue cooperating with security agencies to keep the FCT peaceful and secure,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, the national industrial court has reportedly issued an interim order restraining the NLC, TUC and JUAC from embarking on the planned protest.
The court had earlier ordered workers on the payroll of the FCT administration to suspend the strike.
Emmanuel Subilim, the presiding judge, held that although the matter before the court amounted to a trade dispute, the defendants’ right to embark on industrial action was not absolute.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting, Warn Against Tampering With State’s Oil Wells
Akwa Ibom indigenes protest RMAFC meeting, warn against tampering with State’s Oil Wells. Akwa Ibom indigenes resident in Abuja on Tuesday stormed the venue of a meeting of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), where the Inter-Agency Technical Committee (IATC) on Disputed/New Oil Wells was sitting, to protest what they described as attempts to reopen a matter already settled by the Supreme Court.
The protesters cautioned that no individual or agency should tamper with Akwa Ibom State’s 76 oil wells, stressing that the ownership of the wells was conclusively determined in favour of the state by the Supreme Court in 2012.
They insisted that any move to revisit the issue through administrative or technical processes would amount to a disregard for the authority of the apex court and could undermine peace in the Niger Delta region.
Akwa Ibom State was formally represented at the IATC meeting by a high-powered delegation comprising leading legal practitioners, government officials and technocrats. Members of the delegation included Paul Usoro, SAN; Assam Assam, SAN; the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Uko Udom, SAN; Uwemedimo Nwoko, SAN; Emmanuel Enoidem, SAN; and a former Attorney-General of Akwa Ibom State.
Akwa Ibom Indigenes Protest RMAFC Meeting
Also on the state’s delegation were the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Emem Bob, Former Attorney General and Commissioner Justice, Barr. Ekpenyong Ntekim; the Commissioner for Information, Dr. Aniekan Umanah; Honourable Member representing Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency, Dr Patrick Umoh, among others.
The delegation is expected to present Akwa Ibom State’s position before the committee, reiterating that the Supreme Court judgment remains final and binding, and urging all relevant federal agencies to respect and uphold the ruling.
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