Her altercations with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyeson Wike, appeared to have defined her performance in the senate in the last one year, even though she had executed several empowerment programmes for her constituency.
She had spoken out against the minister a few times, pouring out her anger at Wike for allegedly deliberately sidelining her in the affairs of the FCT.
But Ireti Kingibe, the senator representing the FCT in the 10th National Assembly, is not angry for nothing.
A senior aide of the senator who spoke to NewsNGR in confidence, revealed why the senator appeared to be fighting the FCT Minister instead of working with him.
“In the senate, when important decisions are to be made, she is not informed due to her uncompromising nature,” said the aide. “They say Senator Ireti is always asking the question, ‘what about the people? What are the benefits to the people?’ and some of them don’t like that.”
According to the aide, this is why she’s ‘feared’ and ‘avoided’ by her colleagues in the red chambers when it’s time to make appropriations, especially for FCT.
Considered soft-spoken, compassionate and unassuming, the fear of Senator Kingibe looms large in the senate such that “when discussing critical issues like the budget and other financial matters, Kingibe must not be there,” a senator from the South-South also told NewsNGR.
He explained that “Mrs Kingibe is a spoiler” to the system and has “refused to bend.”
Senator Kingibe’s frequent brush with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and FCT minister, Wike is as a result of her “uncompromising attitude about what she believes is right,” a senator from the North Central also confirmed.
He said, “We agreed that she needs to protect her people. But does she go way too far to side with all Nigerians? I don’t think so because as a senator, you make laws and move motions for the whole country and not your constituents alone.
“I think she should be given her due as far as her position in the Senate and national politics is concerned. She represents the FCT, the only senator to represent a quasi-state. Not just that but the only senator representing the capital of the country.
“I think the FCT minister should defer to her and let things work for the people. The former senators were allowed to have their way even though things didn’t work. But now I can beat my chest that Mrs Kingibe means well for the FCT.”
When Senator Kingibe was campaigning for election in 2023, she promised to “listen to the people and work for the people.” She had told NewsNGR in an exclusive interview: “I have gotten all that I wanted in life, I am a modest person. I don’t need obscene wealth, I’m not that ambitious to acquire and deny people a fair share of the beauty of life.”
After the election, she said in another interview before her inauguration as the FCT senator, “I’m glad the people voted in such a massive manner for me. It’s a huge call of honour and I must answer the people.
“I know my role is to make laws principally but I must also represent the people through sharing the vision of the FCT. Everyone with a better idea would be allowed to share. I would work hard to justify the confidence.”
But she has not had it easy for one year on the job. No day goes by without her getting one attack or another from her detractors.
Senator Kingibe, who belongs to the Labour Party, defeated the Peoples Democratic Party’s Philip Aduda who had served three terms in the senate, in the 2023 NASS election.
Aduda is a close friend of Wike, and the minister had publicly admitted that he would not abandon his friend.
Aduda’s friendship with Wike is believed to be one of the reasons for Senator Kingibe’s strained relationship with Wike.
Wike unwittingly confirmed this during a recent public event where he spoke to Senator Kingibe without mentioning her name.
Wike said, “If you are popular, in 2027 come and run under Abuja, we will fail you.
“Do you think 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.”
Godswill Akpabio, president of the Senate also sided with Wike and once advised the FCT minister to “ignore her.”
Akpabio had described her as a “distraction” and said whenever the senate takes a decision, it is binding on all senators and Wike should not be bothered by what Senator Kingibe says.
The development has made Senator Kingibe’s exploit very difficult, according to a member of her camp in the senate. To get things done, “she has to go to the clerk of the Senate to beg for what is rightfully hers,” an insider who said only five months ago the FCT senator received her furniture explained.
“Do you know that, in order to bypass madam senator, she’s sent on overseas duty? This enables her to be out of the way for them to cook up whatever they want including the FCT budget. I can vow that she has not seen the breakdown of the budget.
“Why should they be hiding the FCT budget from her? It tells you this is beyond not having her input but to do shady deals,” she said.
She explained that “Madam senator decided to speak out on the floor of the Senate because it was becoming too much. Those she was close to have abandoned her in the Senate because they want to ‘belong’ to the ‘happening’ camp.”
News of Akpabio running the upper chamber like a personal estate is not new. What’s new to many observers is that no senator has alleged that there’s massive misappropriation of funds.
And that’s because “they have decided to pitch a tent with the Senate President because if you don’t, you can’t ‘chop’ (get easy money) and your membership of ‘juicy’ committee is zero,” the source explained.
She further explained that other senators have realised what happened to Abdul Ningi, the Bauchi Senator, who was slammed with suspension for voicing out that there were two budgets in circulation.
“Nobody wants his head broken. They are all scared of speaking,” she said. She added that “Akpabio runs the Senate in a manner that shows no opposition is allowed. That’s why even minority members are scared of challenging him.”
Akpabio has, since assuming position as Senate President, been criticised for his overt lowering of the standard of the red chamber and subsuming it to the executive.
This external influence includes some ministers like the FCT minister who dictates what Akpabio must do with regards to senator Kingibe and the budget of the territory.
“Consider how much is being spent on roads in the FCT then you will know we are in trouble. That’s because the budget of the FCT is not passing through an appropriate channel for scrutiny,” a member of the camp said.
For now, senator Kingibe has insisted “she can’t allow her name to be soiled. She can’t lower her moral values. What’s important to her is the FCT people and not personal glory.”
She stressed that what happens “secretly cannot deter her because she’s an open book, so she can’t join the camp,” an aide said.