Wike vs Kingibe: Atiku Ex-Spokesman, Bwala Tells Sen. To go Back To APC

Daniel Bwala, a former spokesman for the 2023 PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar has urged Senator Ireti Kingibe to go back to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Kingibe, a Labour Party, LP senator is currently representing the FCT in the Nigerian Senate.

Bwala gave this advice on Tuesday on his verified X handle, saying that it will be easy for Senator Kingibe to return to the National Assembly un-opposed in 2027.

The former Atiku spokesman remark comes on the heels of the face-off between Kingibe and Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal capital Territory, FCT, who has vowed to ensure that the senator’s plan to return to the Senate in 2027 is thwarted.

“My dear sister @IretiKingibe here is a free of charge advise to you; go back to @OfficialAPCNg where you have always belonged. You will be the official leader and governor of the party in FCT, Wike will have no excuse not working with you; you will get all the support you need to impact your constituency and most likely you will be returned unopposed by 2027,” Bwala said.

He urged Kingibe further: “Leave Labour Party immediately because by 2026 the party will be empty; even @PeterObi might likely leave the party and go back to second fiddle position. When that happens you will find yourself in @OfficialPDPNigwhere your ticket will be retired to Aduda. APC will retain Presidential power at least till 2031. A stitch in time saves nine ”

Recall that the senator has complained repeatedly that she has been sidelined by the minister, a former governor of Rivers state, in the affairs of the FCT.

Last week, Senator Kingibe took the feud further by accusing the minister of being isolated from the residents of the Territory, stating that some projects executed by Wike were not in line with the needs of the people of FCT.

Wike, according to those familiar with development in FCT, has turned around the infrastructure landscape of the city since he was appointed as Minister last year by president Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

She said, “The minister may be a great minister in a ministry that has no people. But the unique situation of the FCT minister is that apart from infrastructure and roads, he also has to take into consideration the needs of the people in that community. That is the difference between him and the minister of works, or any other ministry.

“The minister of FCT is almost acting as governor for the president. Just like people took me on when those roads were commissioned. They said, ‘Madam, you people are celebrating roads in Maitama, and the Central District, the bulk of people do not live there. Show me the project where people live.’

“That is the difference, it is just like a Governor telling you he built some roads, so he doesn’t care what the needs of people are.

“They (FCT people) have needs. The people are not impressed. At the end of the day, they don’t have water, that fire that happened in Karu could have been prevented if there was water. Any fire tank needed to go all the way to Asokoro to get water, not to mention the fact that there was no access road into the market.”

The minister fired back by vowing to ensure that Kingibe is not returned as a senator in 2027.

Below what the minister said:

 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 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 hospital 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”.

Not a few insist that the major reason President Tinubu appointed Wike as FCT Minister, is to ensure that APC secures the necessary votes in the 2027 elections.