Senate Minority Leader Says FCT Senator-elect, Kingibe, Too Old for Parliamentary Rigours

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Philip Aduda (PDP), yesterday disclosed that he would challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) declaration of the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Ireti Kingibe as Senator-elect of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the tribunal.
He stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja.
He described as unacceptable, a situation where a woman old enough to be his mother would be declared winner of a cosmopolitan constituency like the nation’s capital.

He alleged that the election which produced Kingibe as Senator-elect ought to have been declared inclusive.
He said he had established cases of over-voting, cancellations and other irregularities that characterised the exercise in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

Aduda said, “Though the 2023 senatorial elections came with its challenges and concerns that we hope to address legally, we strongly believe that with your continuous support and prayers for a better FCT under our leadership, we will come out stronger.
“The faith to continue the struggle has come from the famous quote of Franklin D. Roosevelt that; ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but the belief that there is something more than fear.’”

He urged the Senator-elect for FCT to show the people, her antecedents and how she had benefited the people of the FCT.
He said his opponent spoke out of ignorance when she claimed that he has done nothing tangible for the people of the FCT as their representative.
The Senate’s principal officer said, “When somebody is afraid that nothing is chasing the person of course the person is bound to say so many things. The person has alluded that he has stayed in the FCT since 1988. Simply put where are her corporate social responsibility?

“If you want to contest election sometimes and for you to endear yourself to the people you go and execute a project like one or two boreholes here and there.
“Maybe she should tell us what she has done as community service to earn her the love and support of the people. But unfortunately, apart from the fact that we had too many over voting, these elections were canceled and she talked about it in the press, it was all over the country.
“But somehow, from nowhere we heard that the results were declared. So these are not issues that we are going to talk about because I believe that I have represented the people very well and I have done the best that I can.

“Let me say that as a young man, of course, I came into the National Assembly at the age of 33. By age 41, I was in the Senate. So as a youth I think I have done very well and if the FCT feels that voting in an old woman of about 70 years old and giving her capacity for a 53 years old young man and bringing somebody who is old enough to be my mother and auntie, I think that something is wrong.
“Because even the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in some fora has said that people should begin to retire at 70. So, we are thinking of retiring her at the age of 70 and she is just beginning to represent us.

“She’s too old to represent us in the FCT because she lacked the physical strength to carry out the rigourous legislative activities.?”
Aduda said he had been able to change the dynamics of administration through unprecedented leadership in the FCT.
He said, “I have constantly also put the issues of youth and women inclusion in my administrative style on the front burner, which largely reflects on my various programmes of empowerment, and it’s visible in my appointments of my aides, which cuts across all kinds of people irrespective of tribe, ethnicity and religion.
 “Not forgetting also that at 52 years of age, there couldn’t have been a more vibrant and resilient character as myself as symbol of youth representation.

“Because of our antecedent in politics, our works have earned us reelection for three consecutive tenures at the National Assembly, not by sharp practices, but premised solely on competence, character, credibility, performance and proven track records.

“I became a Councillor in 1996 at the age of 26, and later became a Supervisory councillor in AMAC at 32, all these were before my foray into the National Assembly where I gained very valuable experience having also humbly risen to become the Senate Minority Leader, making me a Principal Officer of the National Assembly.”