Senator Ireti Kingibe (LP, FCT) has disclosed that several efforts to meet with the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike to discuss ways to resolve the insecurity in the FCT were rejected.
This is as she also claimed that there was no synergy between the Minister on the one hand and the elected officials and residents of the city on the other hand.
Ireti, who represents the FCT at the Senate, made this known while speaking during an appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Sunday, 21 January 2024.
She said, “I have WhatsApp messages; I have written him one or two letters, and I don’t get any response.
“I would say without exaggerating that maybe a quarter of the Police Force are guarding VIPs, which is not their primary function.
“A little bit earlier, I tried to draw their attention (security operatives), and I was told that it was exaggerated,” she added.
Ireti however stated that the Senate will summon Wike and heads of security agencies to testify over the rise in crimes in the FCT.
She said: “When the Senate resumes, I plan that the (Senate) FCT committee specifically needs to sit with the two ministers and the security agencies for them to give us their plans concerning security. It is not that I am hoping. I know he will be summoned. But whether he responds or not is a different matter entirely. But as the chief security officer of the FCT, he should have a plan.
“He should be able to tell us, the committee, and specifically me, that this is the plan for protecting the people of the FCT. Between him, the police commissioner, and the head of the DSS, they must have a plan.”
Speaking further, she added: “I must commend the security agencies for doing something when we started to scream. But the truth is a little bit earlier, I tried to draw their attention and I was told that it was exaggerated. I said it couldn’t be because what I was telling them, I did not get from social media. I got it from my constituents. But I’m glad that everybody, we all now seem to be on the same page.
“They’re trying to take it all seriously, but a lot more needs to be done. Catching the kidnappers is just the symptom. We need to get to the root cause of what is causing all of this insecurity.”
