Social critic, Comrade Austin Okai has berated Kogi State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Salisu Isah Idachaba, for denying the widely reported auctioning of assets belonging to the state.
In a statement issued by Idachaba on Thursday, the commissioner described Okai’s claim that the state-owned Kogi Hotels has been auctioned off as a pure lie.
The commissioner said Governor Yahaya Bello “has no plans to put Kogi state hotel on sale, rather we have gotten investors to complete the 5-star Kogi Hotel and deliver same to Kogites within 6 months.”
Idachaba urged the general public to discountenance Okai’s claims.
In a swift reaction, the social critic said Idachaba’s “ignorance is appalling”, labeling the commissioner a “mere figurehead”.
According to Okai, the recent outburst by Commissioner for Culture and Tourism denying the sale of Kogi assets is a demonstration of naked ignorance and leadership gap among political appointees of Kogi Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
He alleged that because of the perpetual anxiety inflicted on the political officers in Kogi state by the Governor, they can not differentiate between right and wrong.
He described the commissioner as timid, unassertive and a big disappointment to the people of the state for not been informed of the planned sale of state assets, even as a member of the state executive council.
“This further exposed the fact that so many of them are just there as mere figure head as Bello has reduced governance to his personal affairs.
“I am sure that Mr Idachaba rarely attends the weekly state executive council if it really held, and if at all, he may not be of any importance to the people he is representing and Kogi state.
“It is in the public domain that Idachaba, a former lawmaker in Kogi state, sold his only official car, an SUV bought by the government of Captain Idris Wada for state lawmakers between 2015/2016, to enable him prosecute his State Assembly litigation, which he lost.
“Having lost everything and later compensated with a commissioner slot in Kogi state, after much lobby, he has lost the grip of leadership and best practices demanding of a public officer.
“This does not make him member of Yahaya Bello’s kitchen cabinet. In order to make him one, he resorted to attacking me to shore up his relevance within the unpopular administration.
“He has forgotten so soon that the administration of Kogi State, under Yahaya Bello, does not pay good for good, hence his efforts will remain vain despite impressing black and white lies on his people.
“Having lost everything, Idachaba has also lost his sense of judgement and sound reasoning, hence he is not aware of the state government’s decision to dispose of not only Kogi Hotels, but all other viable assets of the state within the state capital and outside the state,” he said
Okai challenged the commissioner to point out one single developmental program initiated by Governor Bello’s administration for the benefit of people in his immediate community of Onitcha-Igo and other adjoining communities.
He promised to expose all anti-people policies of the government without reservation, regardless of whose ox is gored.
