You won’t return to Senate, Wike tackles FCT Senator, Kingibe
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Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike on Monday tackled the senator representing the territory, Ireti Heebah Kingibe, saying she would lose the support of the people in the next election.
Speaking at the Flag-off of the Mabushi Bus Terminal in Abuja, Wike said it was disheartening that instead of collaboration with the FCT Administration, Kingibe was instead angry that residents are praising the President Bola Tinubu administration.
He 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”.
Kingibe had on the television programme castigated the Wike-led Administration, and said she is not a friend of the minister.
UAV crashed not helicopter, NAF explains
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The Nigerian Air Force has refuted claims that its helicopter crashed in the early hours of Monday in Tami village, located in the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The spokesman for the NAF, Edward Gabkwet in a statement on Monday, said it was a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and not a helicopter as earlier believed.
Gabkwet said, “A NAF Unmanned Aerial Vehicle experienced a mishap after take-off for a mission, at a location near Rumji Village and about 15 Km from the Base. Since it is an unmanned vehicle, there were no casualties on board or on the ground.
“A preliminary investigation has since commenced to ascertain what may have caused the mishap. Nigerians can rest assured that this minor setback will not, in any way, impinge on all ongoing operations.”
In the wake of the incident, a team of Airforce personnel from the Nigerian Air Force Air Training Centre and 401 Flying School were said to have cordoned off the scene to secure the area for emergency rescue operations and also investigate the cause of the crash.
Earlier, some locals stated that a helicopter belonging to the NAF in the early hours of Monday crashed in Tami village causing alarm among residents.
The helicopter which was on a routine operational flight reportedly encountered technical difficulties that resulted in the crash.
Breaking: FG terminates sections of Obajana-Benin Road contract
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After several threats, the Federal Government on Monday announced the termination of sections of the Obajana-Benin Road contract being handled by messers : MotherCat, Dantata&Sawoe and RCC over non-performance.
This was contained in a terse statement issued by the Ministry of Works on Monday
Senate resumes probe as AGF submits N30tn loan documents
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The Senate panel probing the N30tn Ways and Means loans secured from the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria by the Federal Government has received more documents from the Office of the Accountant General, The PUNCH has learnt.
As a result, the panel is set to resume physical sitting after studying the documents.
The panel had written to the OAGF seeking additional documents to deepen its prone of the controversial N30tn loan obtained by the President Muhammadu-led administration.
However, multiple sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter on Sunday, confirmed that the documents arrived at the National Assembly on Thursday.
“The documents from the Office of the Accountant General regarding the probe of the N30tn Ways and Means came on Thursday; the documents have been given to the chairman and the members of the panel,” one of the Senate sources told our correspondent.
Also confirming the development, the Chairman of the Panel, senator Isah Jibrin ( APC, Kogi East), said the AGF had sent the documents to the National Assembly.
He said, “ Yes, the documents have come from the AGF and have been distributed to all panel members. At the moment, we are all studying it and once that is concluded we will resume physical meetings hopefully by next week.”
He added, “Nigerians can be assured that we will ensure due diligence and see that we do not let them down. Like I earlier said, we had never stopped working on the probe, we just needed more documents and now that we have them, nothing can hold us back.”
On Tuesday, February 20, the Senate resolved to investigate the N30tn loan, citing that the alleged reckless spending of the overdraft from the CBN largely contributed to the current food and security crises in the country.
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