Wike to area council chairmen: Don’t abdicate your duties, stop travelling out

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital Territory (FCT), has asked area council chairmen to focus on their duties and desist from regular travels out of the country.

Wike spoke on Tuesday at a meeting with heads of security agencies and chairpersons of the area councils in the FCT.

He said the chairmen must secure their territory and must live up to their responsibilities.

The minister said he has reports about area council chairpersons abdicating their responsibilities to travel, warning that such would not be accepted.

“This time around, we will not be happy where area council chairmen will abdicate their responsibilities and travel out,” Wike said.

“We have gotten reports that council chairmen travel anytime and if anything happens, of course, they will not call anybody’s name. They will call the FCT minister.

“So, the council chairmen should know you must live up to your responsibilities. It’s not everything that happens, they will say it’s the minister who is not taking steps.”

There have been escalating insecurity and kidnappings in the nation’s capital by gunmen in recent weeks.

On January 5, gunmen raided a community in the Bwari area council of Abuja and abducted scores of people, including a family of six sisters.

On Sunday, the abductors killed Nabeeha, one of the six sisters, purportedly as a warning to the family for failing to pay the ransom of N60 million.