The House of Representatives candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency in the 2023 elections, Austin Okai, has called on Governor Usman Ododo to cease playing politics with security and to identify those responsible for the attacks in Omala local government.
In a statement issued on Friday, Okai berated Governor Ododo for his failure to visit the Omala community where bandits killed 25 persons in a recent attack.
Reacting to statement credited to the Governor after observing his Eid-el-fitri two-raka’a prayers at the Okene Eid praying ground in Okene, Okai insisted that he and others are not noise makers but stakeholders in Kogi state.
“Ododo stated that he was not perturbed by recent attacks on his administration from naysayers over alleged lacklustre and inaction, arguing that he would not dignify the promoters with a response.
“He went further to say reacting to noise makers and those who do not have a stake in governance is not part of the mandate given to me by the good people of Kogi State and Mr. President,” Okai said.
Okai criticized the Governor for politicizing insecurity, questioning why the identity of the man arrested in connection with the killings was concealed and not openly paraded by security forces.
“Ododo should have taken this matter seriously and silenced us by announcing the arrest of the suspect to the good people of Omala. Instead, he chose to announce it in Okene, in Kogi central.
“It is evident that the governor is mocking the people of Omala. It took him three days after the killings to react, and now he claims that the President gave him the mandate. It is clear that there is confusion.
“The president does not give mandates because the governor is the appointee of the people of the state, not the president. This shows that Usman Ododo believes he was pronounced by INEC based on a conspiracy theory.
“How can a governor say the President gave him a mandate? Is the President a Kogite? Usman Ododo should wake up and do his job.
“Usman Ododo remains clueless as far as I am concerned. If he understands the rudiments of governance, he should have visited Omala where over 25 people were killed by bandits. He has failed to create alternative shelters for the victims or send relief items to them in over two weeks since the incident occurred.”
