The Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), have urged President Bola Tinubu to call the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to order following his threat to block the re-election of the lone senator of the nation’s capital, Ireti Kingibe, in 2027.
The Labour Party (LP) demanded a reprimand of the minister, reminding him that while he was just an appointee of the president, Kingibe was elected by the people of the territory.
Giving this position in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Tuesday, the Chairman of LP in the FCT, Peter Dugwu, said: “We are advising President Tinubu to call Wike to order.
“He is just an appointed minister by the president. For Ireti, election into the Senate in the FCT has a process in which Ireti satisfied, meeting all the requirements before becoming a senator.”
The party boss reminded Wike that his threat amounts to nothing, stating:
“We do not know on whose authority he is speaking. We want him to know that. This is not Rivers and the FCT is not an extension of Rivers state.
“It is the LP that would decide whether Ireti is coming back or not, not Wike. He does not have any right or locus of asking her to go and focus on 2027, that is not his business.
“Does he not know that he is a tenant in FCT merely appointed by the president and if Mr. President decides to remove him, he will be removed without any ceremony.”
On his part, the national chairman of the NNPP, Ajuji Ahmed, described Wike’s attack on Senator Kingibe as verbal violence.
He said Wike does not have the power to stop other politicians’ re-election because he is not the one who brought such politicians to the office in the first instance.
“That (the attack) amounts to verbal violence because there is no reason why he (Wike) should do that. He is not in the LP. It was LP that elected her.
“He has nothing to do with LP and he is not the entire electorate of the FCT. There is no way somebody can stop someone from being re-elected in three years’ time. It’s not a savoury statement,” he stated