The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has reportedly told FCT Senator Ireti Kingibe that he cannot be forced to become her friend. Wike accused Senator Kingibe of blackmailing him instead of communicating her problems through proper channels or focusing on her oversight functions.
In an interview with journalists in Abuja, the former Rivers Governor stated that Senator Kingibe is upset because the Senate President did not appoint her as Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT. Wike said, “I don’t want to be personal… she’s the Senator for FCT. She went around saying ‘Oh, oh Wike is busy scraping roads…I should leave the roads until the potholes come? Somebody wants to be your friend, and you say, ‘I don’t want to be your friend. Is it by force?’ The problem is that she wanted to be Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, and the Senate President said, ‘I’m not giving you’. ‘What are you going to supervise me? You cannot supervise me.
What is her interest, and why must I see her? If I have a problem, I’ll go and see her. I don’t have a problem. Nobody can intimidate me. Look, I was a Minister before. I became a governor of one of the most important states in Nigeria, and she thinks that the only way you can bring me is to go to Channels, TVC, saying the Minister is not carrying me along. “I don’t have the back to carry. It’s not about blackmailing.
Do the right thing. Do you know her problem? She ran for election with my friend Philip Aduda, and she sees me taking Philip everywhere instead of her being the Senator. Should I abandon my friend because he failed the election?” It will be recalled that Kingibe had accused Wike of carrying out anti-people policies in the Nigerian capital.