Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has described the minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, as autocratic and unwilling to work with anyone.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television on Friday, Kingibe said she has written several letters to Wike expressing her desire to collaborate for the benefit of the FCT but did not receive any reply.
Kingibe said the minister did not consult with anybody before imposing a curfew for Saturday’s area council elections in the FCT.
The senator narrated how she once got into a yelling duel with the minister after repeatedly trying to reach him via the telephone.
Kingibe said it took the intervention of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, through a three-way telephone call, before there was a resolution.
“The truth is that this whole curfew is a great inconvenience to the people of the FCT,” she said.
“I have his(Wike) phone number. I have called him before. He did not answer, and I kept calling till he picked up the phone. He proceeded to yell at me.
“We yelled at each other for a few minutes, and we put the phone down. Then the senate president intervened, did a three-way call, and we resolved the issue.
“Because for me, that issue was urgent. I was determined that he was going to respond to my call. I told him I was going to come and see him in the office. He said, ‘no, don’t come’. That was the conversation, as if I was going to harm him.
“I am only about governance. We can see the letters I have written to the minister. All of the letters telling him I’m willing to work with him.
“The minister is not willing to work with anybody. He is not willing to work with the FCDA people. The minister thinks governance is about what he alone thinks and what he alone wants.”
Kingibe and the minister have been at loggerheads since the 2023 elections, often resorting to a media war of words.
In July 2025, Kingibe said President Bola Tinubu’s greatest political blunder was appointing Wike as minister.
The senator had said Wike’s leadership style is autocratic and marked by “total disregard for the constitution”.
In turn, Wike has pledged to ensure that the senator loses her re-election bid in 2027.
