Obi receives Ireti Kingibe, second female FCT Senator-elect
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi has received Ireti Kingibe, the party’s Senator-elect for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), one of the three females who have so far won Senate seats in the 10th National Assembly (NASS).
“A very hearty congratulations to senator-elect Mrs @ireti_kingibe; the second elected female senator for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“Her election is in keeping with our commitment to women and youth,” Obi announced in a tweet where he also shared photos of himself and Kingibe on Tuesday, according to The PUNCH.
Obi said he, the LP, the OBIdient family, and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, are gratified that Kingibe will represent the party in the FCT.
“We look forward to your diligent service and contribution towards nation-building,” he added.
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Kingibe’s biography
Ireti Heebah Kingibe (born 2 June 1954) is a Nigerian civil engineer and politician. She is a younger sister of Ajoke Mohammed the wife of the late Head of State Murtala Mohammed, according to Wikipedia.
Kingibe’s education started at Emotan preparatory school, after which she attended Queen’s College, Lagos and Washington Irving High school for her secondary education.
She obtained a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota, United States.
Career
Kingibe started her career as a quality control engineer with Bradley Precast Concrete Inc. from 1978 to 1979. She then moved on to work with the Minnesota Department of Transportation Design unit, where she also worked as an engineer from 1979 and 1991.
She returned to Nigeria for her one-year mandatory national service between 1981 and 1982. She was posted to work as a project supervisor with the Nigerian Air Force base in Ikeja, Lagos.
In 1982 she got to work with the New Nigeria Construction Company, Kaduna as a planning engineer. In 1985, she left the company to work as a consultant for Belsam Limited.
Kingibe then became the regional engineer for Lodigiani Nigeria Limited Lagos between 1990 and 1994.
She currently works as a senior Partner with Kelnic Associates, Abuja.
Politics
Kingibe’s political career began in 1990 with her appointment as Adviser to the National Chairman of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In 2003, she was the FCT senatorial candidate for the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP). She defected to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2006.
However, in 2014 she joined the All Progressive Congress (APC) on which platform she ran for a senatorial seat in 2015 but later withdrew.
Kingibe joined the LP in 2022 and became its FCT senatorial candidate for the 2023 election. Before the vote, she pledged her basic Senate salary (if she wins) to a special fund to tackle infrastructural deficits in the rural communities in the FCT.
Controversy
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Kingibe the winner of the FCT senatorial seat on February 28.
The agent of other political parties did not agree to the authenticity of the result and decided not to sign the result sheet.
Kingibe held a press conference arguing that the INEC had no basis for canceling an election she won and defeated the three-term Senator Philip Aduda.
She claimed opposition parties bribed electoral officers during the presidential and NASS elections, and there was an alleged move to rig her out, citing how the Gwarinpa collation centre was attacked by thugs who destroyed the result sheets.