It is laughable to read through the piece of one Petra Akinti Onyegbule,one of the spokesperson of Kogi state governor, crying wolf were there was none, after her principal had eaten into the substantial part of his administration, adoned with only fictitious projects and figures, and celebrity proned style of leadership.
I think the position of the current administration as amplified by one of the image maker, now is cocooned emotionally into lamentations and regrets of the indecision of an already drowned and failed leadership, in all facets of the development of Kogi state, yet shamefully linked them to three serving senators from the area.
This rejoinder is a direct response from the desk of Kogi east senator, Atai Aidoko Ali, to clarify the unguarded and overzealous utterances of the unlettered image maker.
Why is it now? The controversial image maker deemed it fit to defend her principal to the detriment of the serving senators having realised that election time is around the corner, and it is time for stock taking before the Kogi public?
For a government who had a federal might by virtue of incidentally belonging to the ruling party, the APC at the federal level, it is shamefully embarrassing not to himself and the administration alone, but the entire Kogians who are daily been deceived by series of visits of APC candidates to the minister in charge of roads, as a gimmick to attract sympathy from the electorates of their area. A similar visit some top government officials of the failed administration in Kogi had embarked upon severally.
A government that has indulged in politics of pettiness, spending billions of naira tax payers money, meant for salaries and pensioners, to fund legal battles against the senator without results and a failed attempt to recall a serving senator. The government, no doubt, should be leaking its wounds in deep consternation.
What is wrong with a government in carrying out massive reconstruction of roads like the Okene- Lokoja road, where the governor hails from. There is no week of the month,that the machinery of government is not moved from Lokoja to Okene.
It is on record that former governor, Ibrahim Idris reconstructed Lokoja-Ajaokuta road, hitherto opened up by his predecessor of blessed memory, late Prince Abubakar Audu to discourage long trip from the eastern flank to the state capital. Worst of all, when refund of over 16 billion naira were made by Federal Ministry of Works to Kogi state government, it fell into the hands of the avarice present administration in the state that lacks foresight, transparency and accountability, yet arrogating blames to senators from the state.
Where is the whereabouts of the 16 billion naira refund that could not be ploughed into Okene road? The fund us not accounted for in the last three years. What has the lame duck and rubber stamp Kogi House of Assembly done about it?
I wish to confront the current administration frontally through its inexperienced and gate crashed image maker, whose emergence had become a ghost playing against her new status and private life, compounded by lack of professional impetus to guide her dispositions in the revered office.
For a government that is glaringly averse to development from series of confrontational attitudes, directly by its agents who had engaged in arson, destruction and frustration of laudable programs attracted by Kogi East senator, that of Kogi West as well as central does not deserve to resort to face saving utterances.
It is on record that on so many occassions, his own brother from central, Senator Ogembe was frustrated by security agents on the instructions of the government to embark on the laudable empowerment programs designed to ameliorate the inflicted hardship by the present administration.
For Melaye, it has been God all the way as series of assassination attempts was made on his life by agents of the state government to discourage him from attracting developmental projects to Kogi West for the betterment of the masses.
For Aidoko, his part has never crossed with the present leadership but his benefactors who eventually found themselves with the inhuman administration, obviously are out to frustrate the good people of Kogi East by denying the people access to basic needs. They have refused to provide enabling environment through subtle ways and endless litigations, to distract the senator from concentrating on his primary assignment at the red chamber, wasting Kogi common wealth.
Inspite of all these, Ogembe, Melaye and Aidoko have on several occassions both in public fora and at the red chamber made a strong submissions that have resulted in the resumption of work on Kabba-Aiyetoro-Gbede-Ilorin road abandoned by the contractors, as well as the dilapidated Obajana-Oshokoshoko-Kabba road, Abugi -Budon-Kupa road, Kabba-Okene road among others.
Ogembe made a case, on several occasions, for the total overhaul of Obajana-Okene-Auchi-Benin road, along with Ayere Junction-Ibillo-Magongo-okene road.
Aidoko has indulged in the clamour to revisit the abandoned Shintaku-Dekina-Anyigba road, Idah-Oforachi-Akpanya road, Ankpa-Ibana-Otukpa road, Ankpa-Emere-Ojoku-Onyagede-Adoka road, Ajaokuta-Itobe-Anyigba-Ankpa road, but was constrained and left unattended to due to the lackadaisical and lack of budget adherence by the same APC led federal authorities in the last few years.
Why is it now, that the time to account for stewardship is around the corner, the state attacking dog now deemed it fit to bring the hard earned image of the senators to the cleaners. That will not stand the test of time.
What have they done with the 10 billion naira infrastructural funds and other windfalls accrued to the state? My hope they won’t accuse the senators of directly or indirectly responsible for the mismanagement of public funds.
Have they forgotten the widely publicised improved internally generated revenue from 600 million during the previous administration to over 1 billion naira monthly as impressed. What impact have they deployed on Kogi masses?
What about the bailout funds meant for salaries of workers and pensioners? Our thinking was to complete some major roads and embark on new ones. What is the progress reports on those roads? Was it the senator that refused to make case for their completion three years after it was flagged off?
What is the position of our Paris club; first, second and the last tranche? We have concluded that the diversion might not be unconnected with attempt to reconstruct Lokoja-Okene road.
What about the bogus exposure of billions of naira by the state government to consortium of Banks and also an attempt to dispose off the assets of the state government in Abuja, Kaduna, Lokoja and Lagos for sheer penchant to corrupt tendencies. My hope is they won’t wait for our senator a to make inputs.
Whatever the case may be, the ghost of bad leadership, corruption, maladministration, denials are ingredients of mass rejection in a democratic process, so therefore, the stooges of the poor APC led state and federal government installed in the state three years ago will give way to the re-election of the three senators under PDP in Kogi state.
It is non negotiable, it is the new song, it is in vogue, that a vote for any APC candidate is a direct vote of confidence on the satanic leadership at the helms of Kogi state in the last three years.
– Abubakar Yusuf writes from Abuja
