Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has vowed to unseat Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the FCT in the National Assembly, in the 2027 elections.
Wike made this declaration on Monday, July 1, at the official flag-off ceremony of the Mabushi Bus Terminal construction in Abuja.
While Wike did not mention Kingibe by name, his remarks were directed at the senator following her appearance on Arise TV, where she criticized the current administration of the FCT.
Kingibe, a member of the Labour Party, claimed her constituency was being marginalized, citing a lack of clean water and inadequate road construction that fails to address essential needs such as healthcare, water, education, and security.
Wike responded to these criticisms by challenging Kingibe’s legislative accomplishments.
“You, as a legislator, what have you done? How many bills have you sponsored for us to improve our education and health sector?” he asked.
He continued, “I challenge that legislator. If you are very popular, in 2027 come and run under Abuja, we will fail you. Do you think that what happened last time will happen again? It will not happen again. Luckily for me, I am the FCT Minister now. So that is my territory and I’m not afraid.”
Wike defended his and his administration’s performance, saying, “With all due respect, what you don’t know, you don’t know. The good thing for you is to tell people you don’t know when you don’t know, then people will educate you. The Honourable Minister of State, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, and my humble self, have not been in office for more than 11 months and the person is angry that people are praising us.”
He further warned, “If you don’t want to or you are angry about that, go and hang yourself in a transformer. If we have done well; we have done well. If we haven’t done well; we haven’t done well. I’m proud to say that in the short time that President Tinubu has appointed us, we have done well.”
Concluding his remarks, Wike stated that if Kingibe is angry with the praise they are receiving for their work, “by next year, your blood pressure level will go very high. This is because the praises you would see would be too much.”