ABUJA, Nigeria — Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the Senate, has sharply criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to appoint Nyesom Wike as Minister of the FCT, calling it the President’s “greatest political blunder.”
In an interview with Arise News on Monday, July 14, 2025, Kingibe accused the minister of operating in an autocratic manner, ignoring the rule of law, and showing “total disregard for the constitution.”
“The primary thing is that the minister doesn’t obey the rule of law. He’s autocratic. He doesn’t follow any rules or any laws. And when you try to draw his attention that governance is based on laws… he doesn’t accept that,” Kingibe said.
She further accused Wike of reinstating scrapped agencies without any legal basis.
“Minister Nyesom Wike has brought back agencies without the enabling laws. If he wants these things, he should ask the National Assembly to create the enabling laws. But he doesn’t, because he’s just autocratic. He feels, ‘I can do anything’.”
Kingibe also alleged that Wike violated the Land Use Act by revoking 7,000 hectares of land previously allocated to the University of Abuja.
“Abuja University had approximately 11,000 hectares. Minister Wike has revoked 7,000 of it and left them with four. It is definitely against the Land Use Act for you to take land from institutions to give them to individuals,” she said.
She also claimed that land earmarked for a general hospital in Bwari was revoked and reassigned for commercial use.
“In Bwari, there’s land allocated for a general hospital. Minister Wike revokes it and he’s having some sort of a market or mall or something put on it.”
Kingibe said Wike’s leadership had worsened living conditions in Abuja by cutting programmes that supported underprivileged residents.
“Every minister has come and found the streets being cleaned by indigent women… widows and other underprivileged women,” she said.
“He comes, he’s fired them all… Then he doesn’t replace them with mechanical street sweepers. So, Abuja is looking dirty.”
The senator also highlighted the plight of local contractors, alleging that hundreds of small indigenous businesses were owed payments and had been dismissed by the minister.
“There are these people called Abuja Small Indigenous Contractors… maybe about four or five hundred of them that had not been paid,” she stated.
“He says, no, he’s not paying them. He didn’t give them the job. And that’s that.”
Reacting to opinion polls rating Wike’s performance positively, Kingibe questioned their credibility and suggested that public support would be tested in forthcoming local elections.
“Depending on who conducted the poll and how it was conducted… When we come to any kind of election, can he tell the people, ‘go and do this,’ and they do it?”
She further argued that the decision to empower Wike has backfired on the Tinubu administration.
“If I were making a list of all the things that President Tinubu has done wrong, the greatest wrong he’s done to himself… has been on Minister Wike.”
Kingibe said Wike had ignored her attempts to reach out for collaboration on issues affecting the FCT, and accused him of a lack of financial transparency.
“Wike, who is deriving powers from [the President], does not go to the National Assembly for anything except budget. TSA, all his IGR — what has he done with it? He’s never accounted for anything.”
She revealed plans to petition oversight bodies with documents challenging the minister’s actions and urged the federal government to rein in his powers.
“I’m going to take those documents and go to the body, the equivalent of his state assembly, and insist that that assembly, the president from whom Wike derives his powers, goes back to the National Assembly for approval for everything.”
