The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has dismissed allegations by the Senator representing the FCT, Ireti Kingibe, that he obtained loans for capital projects in the nation’s capital without the statutory approval of the National Assembly.
Wike reacted to the allegation on Tuesday in Abuja after inspecting some ongoing projects across the territory.
The FCT Minister described Kingibe as an “illiterate” who lacked basic understanding of legislative processes and public finance procedures
Responding to how government borrowing is secured, Wike questioned how any official could bypass the legislature to obtain a loan.
“She’s an illiterate, with all due respect, and that’s why she’s not going back to the Senate,” Wike said.
“If you want to take a loan, you will include it in the budget, that it is part of this budget that we are going to collect a loan,” he added.
The dispute follows Kingibe’s claim in August that she reviewed Debt Management Office records covering August 2023 to March 2026 and raised concerns with the Senate leadership that Wike was borrowing without parliamentary approval.
Kingibe had said: “I have never seen Wike come to the National Assembly and before the Senate to ask for approval of anything.”
Wike insisted that all borrowings followed due process and were captured in the budget for legislative backing.
Dismissing Kingibe’s political relevance, the Minister asserted that her tenure in the National Assembly is effectively coming to an end, claiming residents of the territory have aligned their support with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and former FCT Senator Philip Aduda
“I don’t want to comment about that. She’s already packing her things out. The people have made a choice; they are going to support President Tinubu and Philip Aduda, so let us not waste our time reacting to an ex-senator in all ramifications,” Wike said.
He further suggested that the Senator’s accusations stemmed from confusion over the rapid pace of infrastructure development currently underway across Abuja.
“I thought she criticized that I’m doing nothing. So now her problem is that I took a loan. Assuming I took a loan, our concern should have been: are we applying the loan to fulfill the interest of residents?” Wike said.
“She believes that with the kind of infrastructure we are doing, we must have taken a loan. Too bad for her,” he added.
