Politics
Let’s Work Together For FCT’s Progress, Senator Kingibe Tells Opponents
Senator Ireti Kingibe (LP-FCT) has called on her opponents in the 2023 elections to join hands with her toward making the territory a greater place.
Kingibe made the appeal at a news conference, on Wednesday, in Abuja.
“I felt a great sense of relief on Tuesday night when the election tribunal affirmed me as the duly elected senator for the FCT,” she said.
She thanked ‘Obidients’, and her legal team for a job well done, saying it was time to start facing the work that the people of FCT elected her to do.
“I would like to reach out to Senator Aduda. There is no victor and there is no vanquished.
“He ran a good race and now it is over. I want him to come and work with me to work for the FCT.
“Let us, together, do for the FCT the things he would have done had he won.
“The goal is to make FCT great.
“I have worked with him in the past and I am sure that is what he would wish for.
“I also want to reach out to Honourable Zakari and everyone that contested with me and others that have always strived for the best of the FCT to join hands with me to make FCT a great place.
“The city has regressed in the last 20 years. It is not the fault of anyone. But this is the seat of government and face of Nigeria; we should make it a place that we would be proud of,” Kingibe said.
She also pledged that the Senate Committee on FCT would work closely with the Minister of the FCT, Chief Nyesom Wike, to ensure that the right thing was done and the city attained greatness.
Kingibe said that the 10th Senate was filled with vibrant lawmakers who knew their onions, adding that she had a long list of FCT demands that the Senate needed to attend to.
“In the last eight weeks or so, almost 90 per cent of the senators were distracted with one court case or the other. I want Nigerians to give us some time to see what we can bring to the house. You can assess us within eight weeks,’’ she said.
“However, we are in recess now and the cases in court constituted a form of distraction, but the cases are almost over now, and when we reconvene, Nigerians would see the senators doing their work with zeal and patriotism,” she said.
Mrs Kingibe promised to ensure that sufficient laws were made to protect women, pledging to ensure that the 35 per cent affirmation for women was realised, as the chairperson of the committee on women’s rights.
She promised to unveil programmes for promotion of women’s rights and gender activism in the country, adding that websites for the programmes had already been designed and were ready for launch.
The Senate yesterday received the 2026-2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper from President Bola Tinubu, marking the formal launch of the 2026 federal budget cycle.
In a letter addressed to the upper chamber, Tinubu said the submission complies with statutory requirements and sets out the fiscal parameters that will guide the preparation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
He explained that the MTEF/FSP outlines the macroeconomic assumptions, revenue projections, and spending priorities that will shape Nigeria’s fiscal direction over the next three years.
The letter was read during plenary by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North), who urged lawmakers to expedite consideration of the document.
“It is with pleasure that I forward the 2026 to 2028 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper for the kind consideration and approval of the Senate.
“The 2026 to 2028 MTEF and FSP were approved during the Federal Executive Council meeting of December 3, 2025, and the 2026 budget of the Federal Government will be prepared based on the parameters and fiscal assumptions therein,” the President stated.
Last week, the Federal Executive Council approved the fiscal projections, pegging the oil benchmark price at $64.85 per barrel and adopting a budget exchange rate of ?1,512/$1 for 2026—figures expected to significantly shape revenue forecasts and expenditure planning.
After reading the President’s letter, Jibrin referred the document to the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), with a directive to submit its report by Wednesday, December 17.
The Senate adjourned shortly after to allow committees to commence scrutiny of the fiscal framework and continue the ongoing screening of ambassadorial nominees.
Tinubu’s communication to the Senate came less than 24 hours after he transmitted the same MTEF/FSP documents to the leadership of the House of Representatives.
The letter was read on the House floor by the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who also urged timely legislative action as required by law.
The MTEF and FSP are statutory instruments mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act and serve as the blueprint for Nigeria’s annual budgets.
They outline the government’s fiscal stance, macroeconomic assumptions, revenue frameworks, projected deficits, and sectoral priorities over a three-year period.
The Tide reports that approval by the National Assembly is a prerequisite for the executive to present the Appropriation Bill for the next fiscal year.
In a statement on Saturday, the former Senate Leader stated that the allocation of nominees across states and geopolitical zones falls short of the constitutional requirement for fair representation in the composition of the Federal Government.
The ex-Senate Whip warned that allowing the list to pass could deepen ethnic suspicion at a time when the administration should be consolidating national unity.
He highlighted disparities in the spread of nominees, noting that while some states have three or four slots, others have none. He also cited the inclusion of Senator Adamu Garba Talba from Yobe, who reportedly died in July.
“The entire North-East states have seven nominees in the list. Further checks revealed that the South-West geo-political zone has 15 nominees, while North-West and South-East have 13 and 9, respectively.
“North-Central region has 10 nominees in the list of career and non-career ambassadorial nominee while South-South parades 12 nominees,” Senator Ndume said.
According to him, such imbalances could heighten tensions and undermine Section 14(3) of the Constitution.
“My sincere appeal to President Tinubu is to withdraw this list. At this critical juncture in his administration, he should avoid missteps that could undermine national unity and foster ethnic distrust.
“I know him to be a cosmopolitan leader who is at home with every segment and stakeholder in the country. He should withdraw that list and present a fresh set of nominees that will align with the spirit of the Constitution on the Federal Character Principle,” Senator Ndume added.
He accused the legislators of undermining the sanctity of the legislature and acting as instruments of destabilization.
“The members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have, by their actions since they assumed office, shown that they are political puppets and a clog in the wheels of democratic progress,” Comrade Ememobong stated, adding that “They will go down in history as enemies of democracy and those who made mockery of the legislature.”
“So the easiest way to describe their action is a defection from APC to APC,” he said.
Comrade Ememobong announced that the party would deploy constitutional provisions to reclaim its mandate from those who have “ignobly and surreptitiously” abandoned the platform on which they were elected.
“Consequently, the PDP will take legal steps to activate the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) to recover the mandate gained under the banner of our party which these people have now switched to another platform,” he said.
He urged party members in Rivers State to remain calm and steadfast.
“We urge all party members in Rivers State to remain faithful and resolute, as efforts are underway to rebuild the party along the path of inclusiveness, fairness and equity,” Comrade Ememobong assured.
