Chief Yohanna Margif
Prominent Abuja-based real estate investor, Chief Yohanna Margif, has decried the seemingly unhealthy relationship between Mr Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Sen Ireti Kingibe, the first female to become FCT senator.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Kingibe of the Labour Party (LP) have been on each other’s jugular since their assumption of office in their respective offices since the beginning of the current political dispensation last year.
The duo’s no love lust relationship hit its crescendo recently when Kingibe publicly alleged that Wike had been carrying out a one-man show by refusing to carry her along in the affairs of the FCT, notwithstanding her strategic position as FCT senator.
“The truth of the matter is that the minister refuses to speak or communicate in any way with me as the senator representing the Federal Capital Territory. So, how are the wishes and the needs of the people to be communicated to him? Please tell me if you know a way.
“No minister has ever reported to any senator. If you look back several years, most ministers and the senators do not even usually come from the same party, but they worked in synergy. Synergy is the keyword. Reporting to anybody does not arise and our proceedings in the National Assembly are recorded.
“Being cantankerous or disorganised is not my style. In fact, I think I have been quieter than I normally am, because I was studying the Senate and the dynamics of the place. So, I doubt that it has to do with my style. But if it is, you can look at the Senate proceedings and advise me because they are all recorded,” Kingibe had said, among others.
But in a swift response, Wike slammed the senator for daring to criticize him and vowed to ensure that she would not return to the senate in 2027.
“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,” Wike boasted.
Reacting to the development, Margif, who is the chief executive officer of HRH Yariman Abuja Ltd., urged Wike and Kingibe to sheath their swords and work together in the interest of the residents of the nation’s capital, instead of engaging in relentless verbal staccatos.
According to him, the unhealthy relationship between the two dramatis personae, was capable of derailing the overall development of the FCT, which is in dire need of infrastructural development.
Margif, a chieftain of the LP and former gubernatorial aspirant, described the duo’s feud as an “abuse of office,” which they should put behind and face the crucial task of achieving the vision of the present administration by unleashing the dividends of democracy to the people.(NAN)
