By Matthew Ojimaojo

Unfortunately, Gov Bello’s policies and programs are almost taking over the history books as the most misunderstood, misinterpreted and most criticized.

It is unfortunate that some persons have decided to reign all manner of negative criticism despite the fact the present administration in Kogi state is doing all it could to sanitize Kogi state of its past corrupt practices.

Gov. Yahaya Bello took over the mantle of leadership of a state that was sharply divided along ethnic sentiment, religious bigotry and tribal intolerance. Kogites should understand that the present economic woes of state is not peculiar to Kogi state and could be traced to the fact that successive administrations failed to put deliberate policies and programs in place with the aim of saving for the rainy days and putting measures in place to boost the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR).

It is a known fact for everyone to see, unlike many of the states that the detractors and critics of Gov. Bello always makes reference to, the present administration took over a state that was battered and looted almost dry as a result of more than sixteen years of official indiscipline, administrative recklessness and wide spread corruption.

Gov. Yahaya Bello in his inaugural speech, made a solemn promise to priotise Civil Service and Pension Reforms. According to him, “We all know that the system had become very rotten and criminally bloated. Our monthly wage bill was more than the monthly Federal allocations at a time Crude Oil dependent economies like ours were suffering a global crash in prices”.

“It was against the above background that the administration set up a Screening Committee to tackle the menace of ghost workers, clean up the Civil Service and free valuable funds for the business of governance. Labour had a front row seat in that Committee and we have treated them with great respect throughout”.

When they reported problems with the style of the former Chairman of the Screening Committee and after we promptly looked into their complaints, the Chairman was removed and replaced with another candidate almost unilaterally chosen by Labour.

The question here is the Labour leaders though they were in the forefront of the screening exercise and saw firsthand the corruption that was found nearly everywhere yet they are the once fighting this administration.

According to Gov. Yahaya Bello in one of his speeches, he asked the following questions:


1. Should the Administration not have conducted the screening exercise at all and let it be business as usual?

2. Should we have overlooked the daylight robbery uncovered and pretended that we did not find all those conduits for siphoning the resources of our State through ghost workers?

3. Or maybe, having discovered these acts of unpardonable criminality we should have taken our cut, looked the other way, and allowed the rape and dispossession of our people to continue unchecked?

Well, anybody who knows Yahaya Bello will also know that I cannot stop without getting to the bottom of the matter. I swore to always act in the best interests of Kogi State and by the help of God, that is what I will continue to do. I was threatened, I was the subject of highly toxic calumnies but I choose to remain intrepid and focused. I am undeterred and I cannot run from my duties, no matter the obstacles.

Let me try to set the records straight:
Like most other States in Nigeria, the monthly FAAC Allocations constitute the major bulk of our income. The money is almost entirely made up of the Federal Government’s Crude Oil earnings.There is also the inevitable slump in the monies that accrue to the States. Everyone is feeling the pinch, including Kogi State where the monthly salaries of about 25,000 Civil Servants amount to nearly twice the current monthly allocations – technically leaving nothing for the rest of our 3.5m residents.

Recently, Yahaya Bello press release to the Muslim ummah and the entire citizens of kogi state said “Our State is under attack from wicked people. Some of them are hiding in plain sight among us while others steal in from outside to wreak their havoc. Some act personally, others by proxy. Their chief weapon has been lies and deliberate falsehoods. They use the media and they go from community to community, and person to person. In all cases, their aim is to create misunderstanding around the actions of Government in order to engender mischief and disaffection among the governed”.

“For as As you can all attest, ours is a divine mandate safeguarded by the Hands of the Almighty. We know God and good are with us at all times and we have developed an iron will to contend with all who try to foist on us anything less than the Will of the Almighty.

Above all, I need to make it clear here that Gov. Yahaya Bello’s administration is not out to witch-hunt anybody, as his action are meant to ensure probity and accountability in handling public funds in Kogi state. Let us join hands together Making useful advice on how best to improve the economic status of the state and admonishing Kogites to persevere, support and keep fate with the present government which is committed and tirelessly putting policies and programs in place at providing the much craved dividends of democracy and putting smiles on their faces should be where we channel our energies now.

Ojimaojo, is a political analyst, wrote from Surulere, Lagos State, Nigeria

Seeing his eyeball for the first time.

I just want to know what the current curfew is about please

I was in lokoja last week,lokoja the state capital of kogi state,can not be compared with ijebu-ode in Ogun state,it's one of the most backward state capital I have been to in my life,though have only been to state capitals in the south west and Ilorin.lokoja is the most backward of them all

augustine77:
By Matthew Ojimaojo

Unfortunately, Gov Bello’s policies and programs are almost taking over the history books as the most misunderstood, misinterpreted and most criticized.

It is unfortunate that some persons have decided to reign all manner of negative criticism despite the fact the present administration in Kogi state is doing all it could to sanitize Kogi state of its past corrupt practices

Who is this clueless toad defending Yahaya Bello's ineptitude??