On Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, rejected allegations made by Senator Ireti Kingibe that he had secured loans for capital projects in the capital without the statutory approval of the National Assembly.
Speaking after inspecting several ongoing projects, Wike said the senator “lacks basic understanding of legislative processes and public finance procedures.” He questioned how any government official could bypass the legislature to obtain a loan, adding that “if you want to take a loan, you will include it in the budget.”
“That’s why she is not going back to the senate. Do non‑lawyers know where we can go and take a loan without the approval of the National Assembly? If you want to take a loan, you will include it in the budget. It is part of the budget that we are going to collect a loan to execute some projects in the FCT,” he said.
Wike dismissed the senator’s relevance to the FCT political landscape, noting that her tenure in the National Assembly was effectively ending and that residents had already aligned their support with President Bola Tinubu’s administration and Philip Aduda, the FCT’s representative in the 7th, 8th and 9th Senate. “She’s already packing her things out. The people have made a choice; they are going to support President Tinubu and Aduda. So let us not waste our time reacting to an ex‑senator in all ramifications,” he said.
“I thought she criticised 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 fulfil the interest of residents? She believes that with the kind of infrastructure we are doing, we must have taken a loan. Too bad for her. Too bad,” he said.
<small>Source: Daily Post Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
