Kingibe and the Abuja Battle: When a Loan Dispute Became a 2027 Showdown

If the reports are to be believed, Senator Ireti Kingibe and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike have never once met privately since both assumed office in 2023. That says more about their current quarrel than any of the insults now being traded between them.

The dispute began over numbers. Kingibe, citing Debt Management Office figures, said Abuja’s debt climbed from N88.5 billion in August 2023 to N389 billion by March 2026, and alleged the loans lacked National Assembly approval. Wike rejected the claim, insisting due process was followed.

The House of Representatives sided with Wike. Deputy Spokesman Philip Agbese said there was no evidence of any breach, since borrowing for infrastructure is lawful once required approvals exist, a finding that has not ended the argument between the two Abuja figures.

Wike has since gone further than defending the loans. During a road inspection on Tuesday, he declared that Kingibe will not return to the Senate in 2027, calling her an illiterate on public finance and endorsing former senator Philip Aduda as her replacement.

Nothing new there, to be honest. Wike has long been Aduda’s political ally, and Kingibe defeated Aduda to win the FCT seat in 2023, a result that set up structural rivalry between the minister and the senator from the outset.

There was a brief thaw in May 2025, when Kingibe praised Wike’s N1.78 trillion budget presentation and Wike publicly declared their rift over. It held for less than a year before collapsing as Abuja’s debt figures kept climbing.

Kingibe has responded that power belongs to God and that Wike cannot stop her, suggesting his focus on her stems from her opposition party membership rather than genuine concern for FCT residents. Wike, meanwhile, is folding the fight into his 2027 messaging, using visible road projects across Abuja as evidence for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s record. For Kingibe, those projects are exactly what she wants investigated.