The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ireti Kingibe, has raised an alarm over an alleged plot to link her with street protests within Abuja.

The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, had on Thursday alleged that a serving Senator has been financially supporting the organizers of the ongoing protest.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Kennedy Mbele, Senator Kingibe denied any involvement or relationship with the masterminds of the protests. Referring to a trending video, Senator Kingibe clarified that “the video being circulated is from over six weeks ago, during a Labour Party NWC meeting when the NLC was protesting outside the Labour Party office.

“As stakeholders, including Senators, House of Reps members, and Mr Peter Obi, we went out to engage with the protesters and address their concerns.

“Now, these deceitful individuals are trying to pass off this old footage as current, claiming that Mr Peter Obi and I are leading protests in Abuja yesterday.”

He urged Nigerians to disregard the information of his involvement in the ongoing protests as “blatant lies and misinformation being spread by mischief-makers!”

“This is a malicious and desperate attempt to discredit us. Let me set the record straight: Mr Peter Obi is not in Abuja, and I haven’t left my house since Wednesday due to illness, much less distributed food and water at the protest grounds, though that would be noble for whoever did.

“I condemn this orchestrated attempt to spread falsehoods and cause confusion, using it as the basis to claim I sponsored the Abuja protest.

“It is a shameless and irresponsible act that will not be tolerated. We will not stand idly by while our names and reputations are dragged through the mud by these unscrupulous individuals.” (Nigerian Tribune)