THE senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has taken a swipe at the administrative style of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, accusing him of autocracy.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today monitored by News Point Nigeria, the lawmaker said Wike is not willing to work with anybody.
Kingibe decried that despite writing to the minister, she hasn’t gotten a positive response on how to deliver the dividends of democracy to FCT residents.
“If the Minister were my younger brother, he wouldn’t behave this way. I am only about governance.”
”You can see the letters I have written to the minister, all of them telling how I am willing to work with him; the minister is not willing to work with anybody,” Kingibe said.
“The minister is not willing to work with the FCDA people; he is not willing to work with the Mandate Secretary. The minister thinks governance is about what he alone thinks and what he alone wants.”
Wike, in a special broadcast on national television and radio stations on Thursday, declared a curfew on the FCT, calling on residents of the nation’s capital to come out en masse to vote for candidates of their choice.
He also declared Friday a work-free day and announced a restriction of movement from 8 pm on Friday to 6 pm on Saturday.
But the senator faulted the minister for declaring a 22-hour curfew ahead of the bye-election slated to hold in the nation’s capital on February 21.
She described the curfew imposition as unnecessary, saying FCT is not at risk security-wise to warrant that action.
“If the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is fully prepared, the security forces are all in place, what is the need for this draconian measure? There is no need.
“From 8 pm to 6 pm tomorrow, just because we have a local government election? I have lived here for a very long time. This is the first time that any minister would ever find it necessary. It makes us wonder why such a measure is necessary, since there have been no security issues.
“Even when there was a protest, they didn’t put in a 22-hour curfew, not to talk of just a local government election in a capital where embassies all are, high commissions, ECOWAS Secretariat. A lot of people are forbidden to move around tomorrow,” Kingibe said.
INEC is set to conduct elections across the six area councils of the FCT, as well as bye-elections in Ahoada East II and Khana II State constituencies in Rivers State, and in the Kano Municipal and Ungogo constituencies in Kano State.