FCT Senator neglected us after election, owed us allowances- aides, *my real aides are in the National Assembly- Senator Ireti

The political base of Senator Ireti Kingibe is on the a precipice as some of her aides have complained about total neglect and non payment of outstanding allowances by the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Apex News Exclusive leant that the aides, numbering over twenty-five, were said to be key to her joining the Labour Party (LP) and pivotal to her success in the senatorial election in 2023. Most of them are core grassroots politicians.

Already, her Campaign Director on Contact and Mobilisation, Faruk Datsama, has resigned and aligned with Member of House of Representatives representing AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency, Hon. Chinedu Obika, Alhaji Jibrin Jiwa, who earlier left was brought back, so well as Hon. Danlami Umar Zuru, the Political and Inter-Party Special Adviser after much reconciliation.

Furthermore, her Youths Campaign Director, Umar Karu, lost his position as FCT LP Youth Leader and has been abandoned, as well as Alhaji Lawal, the Special Adviser on Chieftaincy Affairs who lost his position as North-Central chairman of LP.

The Head of the Constituency Office is also not finding it difficult to operate as he is without any Imprest for the daily running of the facility.

It was gathered that the aides are complaining that since her election and inaugurated into the Senate, Senator Ireti has dumped them to her Constituency Office.

They claimed that she has picked her relations including one from United States to closely work with her in the Senate and left those that campaigned for her to win the elections.

Inside sources told our correspondent that since her inauguration into the Senate in 2023, it was only in June, 2024 that she offered these politicians formal letters of engagement on a monthly allowance of N100,000 each.

Even at that, Senator Ireti is said to be owing them the allowance for three months, that is, February, March and April, 2025, and had put some of them in debts.

According to the source, Senator Ireti might be deliberately withholding their allowances to make them angry to leave.

However, in a reaction, Senator Ireti Kingibe told Apex News Exclusive on telephone that her real aides are the ones working with her at the Senate. Here are excerpts from the telephone conversation: 

“I am the first senator since Senator Khairah Gwadabe that has a Constituency Office. Agreed, you can check your facts. And, they said it took me one year to give them letters. I am new senator, where’s the money going to come from? I’m in the opposition. I used even my personal money. Okay? We are going into local government elections. The SAs have been dissolved. How many of those 25 people or 30 people that are SAs come to work? They don’t. At the end of the month, they all collect money. Now, we are in different factions of Labour Party. So, I have dissolved my SAs so that everybody can go and follow who they want to follow for local government elections. So, if I dissolved you, why should I be paying you. They won’t tell you all these things. That is why if anybody say these things to me, I am not afraid to engaged anybody and tell you the truth.  You see that 25, 30 people, if I go to the Constituency Office, I can never find more than ten of them. Everybody just sees free money; it doesn’t work like that. I am only one senator. Other states that do not have the population of FCT have three. So, you cannot be in a different political faction from me and still wanting to be collecting allowances from me. It doesn’t work like that or do you think that is so?

I am grateful to all of them, in fact, they are about to receive a ‘letter of appreciation’ for whatever work they’ve done for me.

People come and tell you in my Polling Unit and you have to give me money. If you expect leaders who do not work for you, just distribute money, then they will go to where the money is, get as rich as possible and I come and distribute a little bit for you. But if you want leaders like me, who is not about money, do you know how many projects have done for the FCT in the two years I have been senator? At least 47 projects and you can verify it.

The truth is that I don’t need those aides. My real aides are inside the National Assembly, it is just a way of giving stuff to people. So, from my running cost, I give you 100k. Most of the time, they sit at home, so why are you complaining? They now want me to, in spite of the fact that everybody is looking for which faction we are going to vote for local government, to still continue giving them free money? 

You can quote me. I don’t tell lies, we all in different factions. It is because of the kind of person that I am, that’s why I’m not saying ‘don’t come to my constituency office.’ My aides whom I am paying, will now be talking against me on a public platform.

Once upon a time, we were all united. Now that we’re not united, everybody should go and find their corner. You cannot be in a separate place from me, and then you are saying I’m not giving you any more money this year.’