The president of the Nigerian Senate, Godswill Akpabio has told Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), not allow himself to be distracted by Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the nation’s capital.
Akpabio made his comments on Tuesday at the flag-off of the construction of a bus terminal in the Kugbo area of Abuja.
He said that he watched Kingibe on television, lamenting that she was not being carried along by Minister Wike in the matters of the FCT.
“I saw one of the legislators on television talking about you (Wike) and mentioning the fact that she was not carried along,” Akpabio said.
“Well, she is a member of the senate. Once a decision is taken, she is bound by the decision.
“Please ignore every distraction, and then be rest assured that no matter what you do, not everyone will praise you; others will still try to find faults.
“Some were saying why roads alone? But we are about to flag off a project that will touch the lives of the people.”
In June, Senator Kingibe, standing on an order of privilege, said at the floor of the senate that she had been “excluded” from matters about the nation’s capital.
In that period, the upper legislative chamber was considering a N98.5 billion supplementary budget for the FCT, which the lawmaker said she was not privy to the development.
“Though I am in the committee of the FCT, whenever matters — critical matters of budget or anything to do with the FCT are being discussed, I am never told,” the senator said.
However , Akpabio interrupted Kingibe and asked her to present the matter the following legislative day.
“Do we suspend it till tomorrow? Noted,” the senate president said as he slammed the gavel.
But the matter never mentioned after that time.
Subsequently, Senator Kingibe granted an interview to Arise Television, to which the senate president referred in his comments during the flag-off of the bus terminal project.
On Monday, Minister Wike vowed that Kingibe would not return as FCT senator come 2027.
But at the close of Wednesday’s plenary, Akpabio stated that a matter of privilege would be addressed in a closed-door session.
The said session is presumed to be about Akpabio’s comments about the senator.