By John Ogunsemore

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has advised the Senator for the FCT, Ireti Kingibe to scrap any plans to return to the National Assembly in 2027.

Wike, who did not mention Kingibe by name, said the senator has lost the support of the people of the FCT.

The minister said this at the flag-off of the Mabushi Bus Terminal in Abuja on Monday.

He said it was disheartening that instead of collaborating with the FCT administration, Kingibe was angry that residents were praising him and the President Bola Tinubu administration.

“I overheard somebody on Arise TV this morning. Unfortunately, I hear the person is a member of the National Assembly and it is unfortunate I say so. With all due respect, what you don’t know, you don’t know, what you know you know, and the good thing for you is to tell people you don’t when you don’t know, then people will educate you.

“The Honourable Minister of State and my humble self have not been in office for more than 11 months and the person is angry that they are praising us. If you don’t want to or you are angry about that, go and hang yourself on a transformer. If we have done well, we have done well. If we haven’t done well, we haven’t done well. I am proud to say that in the short time that Mr. President has appointed us, we have done well.

“You said there are no hospitals and there are no hospitals. You, as a legislator, what have you done? How many bills have you sponsored for us to improve our education and health sector?

“I challenge that legislator. If you are very popular, 2027 come and run under Abuja, we will fail you. Do you think that what happened last time, will happen again? It will not happen again. Luckily for me, I am the FCT Minister now. So that is my territory and I’m not afraid.

“So, People should be able to come out and be able to accept the truth. We are not begging for anybody to become our friend; we have so many friends that we cannot even carry along. So how can we go and be begging people to become our friends? We are not interested in that.

“If you are angry that people are praising us, by next year your BP level will go very high because the praises you would see would be too much,” Wike said.

In a recent televised programme, Kingibe berated the FCT administration, adding that she was not a friend of the FCT minister.