Dear Distinguished Senator Tunde Ogbeha, I have carefully read your interview on pages of newspapers and on online platforms and have also read the acerbic reactions from the Yahaya Bello-led Kogi state government. Of paramount importance to me is the subtle direct attack on your personality by the agents of the state government.
In a press release being circulated on Whatsapp and Facebook, the media aide to Governor Bello, Mr. Kingsley Fanwon, subtly alleged as follows:
“If anyone refuses to acknowledge the giant strides of the present administration just because the era of using state resources to pay workers in their private firms is over, we need to question his interest in the people of the State.
“While PDP was in power, Kogi State funds were used to pay salaries of workers of companies owned by some of the party’s leaders. Also, government was responsible for buying diesels to power the companies. This is unfair to the people of Kogi State.
Sir, I want to put if straight, what Fanwo was saying practically is:
“While PDP was in power, Kogi State funds were used to pay salaries of workers of Grace FM and Confluence Television stations owned by General Tunde Ogbeha, one of the party’s leaders. Also, government was responsible for buying diesels to power Grace FM and Confluence TV. Is this allegation true?
Let me spell this out very clearly my dear Senator, since the current administration embarked on the eternal screening exercise they have ‘published’ most of their discoveries in gossip marketplace and one of the main ‘revelation’ that is popular in the gossip marketplace is that salaries of your personal staff in the above mentioned privately-owned media stations were being paid from the state government coffers. That is, you are a ghost merchant. Is this allegation true.
As a fellow Lokoja indigene, I am duty bound to ask you my dear Senator to come out clear on this as soon as possible.
Thank you.
– Titi Balogun writes from Lokoja.
