A Biography on Ireti Hajiya Kingibe

One woman on the lips of everyone during the 2023 elections is non-other than Hajiya Ireti Kingibe.

Ireti is a frontline philanthropist and outstanding advocate of women’s empowerment in the country.

She won her polling unit representing Labour Party in Saturday’s senatorial election in the FCT, defeating the incumbent by a wide margin.

Ireti, who scored a total of 57 votes, was trailed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Angulu Zakaria, who got 30 votes. The incumbent Senator representing the FCT and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Philips Aduda, came third with 20 votes.

It is no surprise to see her emerge as the winner. In an interview in
January 2023, she spoke of her optimism about clinching the position.

Here are 15 facts to know about this quintessential woman.

1. Her full names are Hajiya Habeebah Ireti and she was born on June 2, 1954.
2. With ties to Delta and Bonny, she was born to a Muslim father, who is half Yoruba and half Fulani, and a Christian mother.  She is also the younger sister to Ajoke Mohammed, the wife of former Nigeria head of state, Murtala Muhammed.
3. She started her education at Emotan Preparatory School, where she had her elementary education before heading to Queen’s College in Lagos and Washington Irving High School for her secondary education.
4. She bagged a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
5. Ireti worked as a Quality Control engineer with Bradley Precast Concrete Inc. from 1978 to 1979 after graduation.
6. She left to join the Minnesota Department of Transportation Design unit, where she worked as an engineer between 1979 and 1991.

 7. Ireti worked as a Project Supervisor with the Directorate of works, Nigerian Air Force base in Ikeja, Lagos, between 1981 and 1982 on her return to Nigeria for her NYSC.

8. She worked with the New Nigeria Construction Company, Kaduna, in 1982 as a planning engineer. She then left in 1985 to work as a consultant for Belsam Limited.
9. Between 1990 to 1994, Kingibe worked as a regional engineer for Lodigiani Nigeria Limited, Lagos.

10. Ireti joined partisan politics in 1990 when she joined the defunct Social Democratic Party(SDP). She was appointed as the Adviser to the party’s national chairman.

11. She was the candidate for the All Nigeria People’s party for the FCT senatorial election in 2003.
12. Ireti defected to the PDP in 2006 before leaving to join the All Progressive Congress(APC) in 2014.
13. She ran for office in 2015 under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but she ultimately dropped her candidacy.
14. In 2022, she joined Labour Party in 2022 and became the FCT senatorial candidate for the 2023 Nigerian general elections.
15. Ireti was formerly married to Baba Gana Kingibe, the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation.