I am confident of winning FCT senate seat — Ireti Kingibe

Last week you declared to contest for the FCT senate seat in the 2019 elections. What encouraged you to throw your hat in the ring having done so unsuccessfully, on two previous occasions? Oh yes, I contested once in the general elections and this will be my third time. But this time, I am very […]

Last week you declared to contest for the FCT senate seat in the 2019 elections. What encouraged you to throw your hat in the ring having done so unsuccessfully, on two previous occasions?

Oh yes, I contested once in the general elections and this will be my third time. But this time, I am very optimistic that the senate seat shall be mine. And you can ask me why Because, when I went to the general elections despite that I was an opposition candidate under the then ANPP, I won but the PDP was in government and they fought with every resources in court and at the end they retained the seat.

And that apart, every time I go to primaries, I always come next to the government candidate. I have never come third position in any primary election. And this time, there is no government candidate as there is going to be a level playing field, equal opportunity for everybody both male and female to participate. So I am very confident that I shall emerge victorious at the end of the day.

You are confident of winning the FCT senate seat but you are coming up against political heavy weights in the primaries of your party for the same seat. Are you not in any way intimidated by these personalities, especially, as one of them is being touted as the government candidate?

In 2003 general elections with the might of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, I ran against one of my current opponents. And if that my opponent was that popular, he wouldn’t have used the government resources to take the seat. And subsequently, anytime I contest with that my opponent, he always come 5th among the aspirants. However, people who have been senators before in the FCT have records, and if at all their records are that good, they would have gotten second term. I defeated an incumbent senator at the primaries, which is why I said I am very confident that I shall emerge victorious. I believe that the ruling APC is about fairness and all the things that we didn’t like before and, hopefully, those things will not happen again.

If it happens that you win the primaries, don’t you think that defeating the  incumbent senator, Philip Aduda, who has incumbency advantage over you, will be a hard nut to crack?

Incumbency? That is not the case now. Remember that Aduda has been senator for eight years now and he was in the House of Representatives for eight years. I think it is time for  change in FCT. 

What is that change that you will be bringing to the residents of the FCT that is different from what the residents are used to under Aduda?

Well, maybe you can think of brilliant things that Aduda has brought to the residents of the FCT but I certainly cannot. He has done his bit but I think after eight years, FCT has reached a point where we should try somebody else. I also think that I can bring quality representation and work with the people to identify their major challenges. There are so many things that I see that need to be done; things that are not about ethnicity or religion and I will  be committed to both indigenous people and the residents.

The natives have been agitating that they are not part of this APC led government as they have alleged that they have been marginalized and shortchanged. How are you going to make them believe in you as you go to solicit for their votes?

Well, if you say they have been shortchanged, they should know that Aduda is a senator regardless of the party in power.  The FCT senator works in conjunction with the minister. So if Aduda is doing such a good job, the natives would not be shortchanged.  In every 500 scholarships Aduda gives, 350 go to one tribe, while majority of federal appointments in the FCT also go to one tribe. So you have to remember that there are other indigenous tribes in the FCT who are also blaming the incumbent senator because if he was representing everybody, something should go to other tribes. So that is what will give me an edge over Aduda because I am not given to ethnic sentiments. I see people not as a particular tribe.

Can you think of one project that if given the mandate that you will facilitate its execution and it will give all FCT residents a sense of inclusiveness? 

Yes, I can tell you one of them is youth empowerment, which will be for all the young people in the FCT.  When I contested in 2003, there were only 340,000 register voters but now they are close to two million and that means there are more people who need to be empowered. FCT senate belongs to everybody and whoever is representing the territory should not just cling to his or her tribe or to just your party. 

If you look at those that are seeking to contest for FCT senate seat, they are the same people that always come out in every election. There are younger people that should come behind us and I believe that by now most of us who are running for senate should be getting ready to retire, if not right now,  may be in the next four or five years. At least, we should leave the space for the younger people.  

Now look at the Ladi Kwali pottery centre, it has been run down, but it is one of the things Abuja is known for. Look at the one at Ushafa; these are things people of Abuja are proud of and they need them to be revamped.  You should also look at the level of unemployment, Abuja is the home and seat of the government as all the parastatals and ministries are here, but how many Abuja residents get employed? It is just very few and I feel that these are some of the things that I can help with. 

How is the emergence of r-APC faction going to affect APC’s fortunes in  the FCT come 2019 general elections?

I don’t see  the faction affecting the fortunes of the party in the FCT at the moment because as you can see, there is  unity and understanding among all the party stakeholders in the FCT since after the party’s congresses. So we don’t have a splinter group in our party in FCT and I think it will not affect the 2019 elections in FCT.