Ireti Kingibe, senator representing the federal capital territory (FCT), says being a woman in the national assembly is pretty difficult.

Kingibe spoke on Thursday, when an anonymous person at the 2024 edition of Voice of Women (VOW) conference and awards, accused her of abandonment and ingratitude after women cast their votes for her.

The event had the theme: ‘Achieving Women Inclusion for a Sustainable Nigeria’.

The anonymous speaker said FCT women voted for the senator due to a trust in the capabilities of women, but that since last year, there has been no avenue or town hall organised by the senator to show her gratitude.

“Now, those women we mobilised are now looking at us and saying that they have given us money, they have given us salt, rice, when there is nothing as such. They didn’t even call us to their inauguration, they didn’t come back to say thank you,” she said.

Responding, Kingibe said there is a misconception on what governance entails.

She said instead of going to meet people individually, she believes in bringing governance to the people through her initiatives.

“I have been a senator for a year and half, I am primarily a legislator. I have bills waiting to be passed, creating the nursing and midwifery school In Gwagwalada, I have a maternal free healthcare for women. I have a few of such bills still pending,” she said.

“But notwithstanding, since I have been a senator, I have empowered and I have everything on record. I have empowered 10,000 people. Now, it is not possible… FCT has 4 to 5 million people and for me to personally see everybody that voted for me.

“I am also building a 50-bed hospital, I am putting up an ICT centre in Gwagwalada and Nyanya. I paid with my personal money 2,000 JAMB forms for free.

“So, at the end of the day, governance means to me… bringing things for the general good and not for the individual.

“The truth is that being a woman in the national assembly is very, very, very hard. So, I have to lobby for everything. When I leave here, I will go to the national assembly, sign in and then go from ministry to ministry so that all those things that doesn’t get attention by the executive, I can slip them into the budget from lobbying different ministers to put it in their budget.

“I have also renovated with my personal money and made allowance for the ante-natal centre in Gwagwalada teaching hospital. Any of you can go and verify all these things.

“So, I’m sorry. Yes, women complain, I haven’t come to them one by one; it is not possible. It is either I do that and then you don’t get anything else.

“So that is my frustration and I want women to understand that you are voting for other women so that our general lives will improve not because she is going to come and meet you personally.”

Also speaking during the event, Toun Okewale Sonaiya, chief executive officer of Women Radio, urged President Bola Tinubu to lend his voice and political will to the inclusion of women in Nigerian politics and socio-economic spaces.

“I call on President Bola Tinubu to lend his voice to securing the 74 seats allocated to women. Use your voice and political will to elevate women inclusion in Nigerian politics and society to global standards,” she said.

Sonaiya also called on female participants at the event to put aside their emotions, societal limitations and support women in the election of women to leadership positions.

“I don’t believe the saying that women forget other women when they get into positions of power. I say, let’s get them into government first,” she said.

“That way, we can have more people representing our needs. If you have money, no matter how little, support the campaign of a woman seeking elective positions.”

The Adamawa State Police Command has disclosed that the 30-year-old Abdullahi Mohammed who climbed a 33 kv high tension electricity pole in Mayo-Belwa last Friday has been admitted at the Yola Psychiatric hospital for mental examination.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the command SP Suleiman Nguroje, told Arewa PUNCH on Friday in an exclusive interview that Mohammed is undergoing psychiatric tests at a facility located inside the premises of the specialist hospital in Yola.

Nguroje explained, “When the police from the Moyo-Belwa division rescued Abdullahi Mohammed, from the 33kv high tension electricity pole, some hard drugs were discovered on him including green leaves which he confessed to be Indian hemp.”

He added, “The suspect further confessed during his interaction with the police that he takes Indian hemp and other hard drugs. He was behaving abnormal, so we had to take him to the psychiatric hospital for a detailed medical examination. We are still waiting for the medical result before we can take the next action.”

The Adamawa Police Command last Saturday night rescued and arrested Mohammed who had climbed a 33kv high tension electricity pole in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Headquarters insisting that President Bola Tinubu must resign before he would come down.

The spokesman of the command who ascribed the man’s action as suicidal had also told Arewa PUNCH after the suspect was persuaded to come down from the high tension electricity pole that attempting sucide is a criminal offence under Nigerian laws.

“You know attempting to commit sucide is a criminal offence under our Constitution, so we are going to charge him to court.”

Nguruje further told newsmen that it is the constitutional duty of the police to protect lives and property and that when any individual wants to take his life, such would be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Last Friday morning, being the market day of Mayo belwa, the young man climbed the 33kv high tension electricity pole along the Yola-Jalingo highway, insisting that he will not come down until the Nigerian President vacated the presidential villa.

Arewa PUNCH’s investigations revealed that the Adamawa Police Police Command had to engage the services of the locals in the area who finally convinced the man to come down on Saturday night.

Mohammed is from Gashaka town in Taraba State.

A federal high court in Abuja has barred the directorate of road traffic services, also known as the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO), from stopping and impounding vehicles, as well as imposing fines on motorists.

The ruling was delivered on Wednesday by Evelyn Maha, the presiding judge, in a suit filed by human rights lawyer, Marshal Abubakar.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023, listed the director of the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, its area commander, the team leader of the Jabi branch, and the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) as respondents.

Maha ruled that the VIO, which operates under the control of the FCT minister, has no legal authority to stop or impound vehicles, and to fine drivers.

She described such actions as oppressive, wrongful, and unlawful, issuing a restraining order against the respondents from impounding vehicles or imposing fines.

The court also issued a perpetual injunction, prohibiting the VIO and its agents from violating citizens’ rights to freedom of movement, presumption of innocence, and ownership of property without lawful justification.

The judgment was delivered via Zoom and upholds Abubakar’s argument that the VIO’s actions were beyond their legal powers.