2027: Aduda Not a Threat to Me, as FCT Voters Will Judge by Record — PRP’s Muoneme Dismisses

Oru Leonard 

ABUJA — The 2027 senatorial candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Juliet Muoneme, has dismissed former Senator Philip Aduda as a threat to her ambition, saying his 20-year stay in the National Assembly provides voters with sufficient basis to assess his performance.

Muoneme made the declaration on Friday in Abuja during a media engagement with members of the Association of Corporate Online Editors (ACOE), where she presented her plans for the six area councils and expressed confidence in her ability to challenge established political interests in the FCT.

Aduda represented the FCT in the House of Representatives for eight years before serving another 12 years in the Senate.

He is seeking a return to the National Assembly in the 2027 elections.
However, Muoneme said she was not intimidated by his political experience, arguing that his lengthy tenure had given FCT residents ample opportunity to assess his record.
“This same FCT, he was here for eight years as a House of Representatives member. This same FCT Senate, he was there for 12 years, meaning 20 years he has been running affairs of FCT,” she said.

She questioned the rationale behind seeking another term after two decades in the National Assembly, stressing that voters should determine whether his previous representation justified another mandate.
“If he was that efficient with a lot of projects here and there, does he even need to come out? It is people who should be asking him to recontest,” she added.

Muoneme said that, if elected, she would prioritise leadership development and succession by deliberately mentoring younger people who could take over from her after a while.
“With the kind of person I am and with my own kind of ideology, I must have had a lot of mentees through my mentorship programme if privileged to serve for just eight years,” she said.

The PRP candidate also dismissed suggestions that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, could constitute an obstacle to her senatorial ambition.
According to her, Wike’s responsibility as minister is different from that of a senator, insisting that there was no basis for treating the minister as a direct political competitor.
“Wike is a minister. He is not looking for FCT Senate. He has his work as a minister,” she said.

Muoneme also cautioned against claims that the minister had endorsed a particular senatorial candidate, describing such claims as hearsay unless Wike himself publicly declares his position.

While acknowledging the minister’s ongoing infrastructure projects in the territory, she maintained that the offices of minister and senator have distinct responsibilities.
“A minister has his role. A senator has her role. So where exactly is the clash?” she asked.

Addressing concerns about the PRP’s strength compared with larger political parties, Muoneme argued that the popularity of political parties is often driven by the quality and acceptability of their candidates.
“Candidates make party. Party is a political platform,” she said, citing the emergence and growth of the Labour Party as an example.

She noted that the PRP, established in 1978, was not a new political organisation and could provide the platform for her political agenda.
FCT RISE Agenda.

Muoneme said her campaign would be driven by the FCT RISE Agenda, which she said represents representation, research, innovation, inclusion, stewardship, entrepreneurship and empowerment.

Affordable housing, she said, would be among her priorities, with a proposed partnership involving government, property developers and financial institutions to expand access to decent housing through mortgage arrangements.

She also proposed the establishment of an automobile hub where mechanics, auto electricians and other professionals could operate while engineering graduates receive practical, industry-focused training.

The PRP candidate said her commitment to human-capacity development was not new and predated her decision to seek elective office.
She recalled working with young people facing drug abuse and other social challenges, helping facilitate skills acquisition in areas including tailoring, hairdressing and tie-and-dye.

According to her, some beneficiaries were given loans rather than outright grants, with repayments returned to revolving funds to support additional beneficiaries.
“I felt that one of the things we could do to curb insecurity and tension in an environment was to get the youths gainfully engaged,” she said.

Muoneme also rejected the widespread description of Nigerian politics as “dirty”, arguing that such perceptions have discouraged capable Nigerians from participating in governance.
“Politics is not dirty. Politics is about leadership. Politics is service,” she said.
She said her professional experience in education, research, entrepreneurship and human-capacity development would inform her approach to legislative representation.

The candidate stressed that her campaign was not limited to Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), where she resides, but covered all six area councils of the FCT.
“I have come as that voice for those area councils that have not been getting the dividends of democracy in terms of development,” she said.

On the recurring clashes between motorists and cattle in parts of the FCT, Muoneme advocated ranching and a more organised livestock industry as part of efforts to address the problem.
She also rejected vote buying, arguing that campaign funds should instead be deployed to legitimate mobilisation, voter engagement and communicating candidates’ programmes.
“Politics is not all about money,” she said, urging FCT voters to elect candidates on the basis of credibility, competence and capacity to deliver.