The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kogi State

  • Kogi: Teachers defy NLC’s stay off classroom order

    Kogi: Teachers defy NLC’s stay off classroom order

    Primary school teachers currently rendering assistance to pupils despite the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by workers in Kogi State have been commended for their noble services to humanity.

    Kogi State Chairman of the Universal Basic Education Board SUBEB, Mallam Nuhu Ahmed gave the commendation while speaking with newsmen in Lokoja.

    Ahmed who disclosed that the primary school teachers have been receiving part payment of their salaries up to date commended their sense of understanding and cooperation in catering to the educational needs of the younger generation.

    He explained that the revenue meant for the payment of teachers‘ salaries at the primary school level comes direct from the federal allocation contrary to the believe that the state government is responsible for it.

    He expressed appreciation to the immediate past governor of the state, Capt. Idris Wada for making it possible for the board to access its counterpart fund for the year 2012, 2013 and 2014 at a stretch, pointing out that the fund has made it possible for it to issue out contracts to upgrade the facilities at various schools across the 21 local government areas of the state.

  • Kogi: Bello dissolves boards, parastatals

    Kogi: Bello dissolves boards, parastatals

    Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Friday ordered the dissolution of government boards and parastatals.

    The governor who issued the directive through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Edward Onoja, ordered all political appointees, members of boards and parastatals to handover to the immediate most senior officers in their offices with immediate effect in their respective offices.

    This he said has become imperative to enable the new government commence the restructuring of the boards and parastatals where necessary, as well as take stock of the state of the boards with a view to commence the process of repositioning them through new hands for efficiency and service to the people.

    The directive however does not affect three statutory boards and the state Accountant General.

    The boards not affected are: Judicial Service Commission, Civil Service Commission and the, State Independent Electoral Commission.

  • Kogi State Gov-elect needs support

    The governor-elect of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, needs support of all the people of Kogi State to succeed in transforming the state to optimal level.

    This becomes imperative due to the expectation of the people of the state, as a result of total neglect of the state in all index of development that is lacking currently.

    Alhaji Yahaya Bello assumption as the next governor which could be defined as divine, as what was seen, as the hand of almighty to present development in the state.

    The people of Kogi State had never envisaged what has happened before  the 21st November 2015 election, where the presumed winner could not live to see his ultimate dream in assuming the position of executive governorship of the state.

    The people of Kogi State should see this as a clarion call on all and sundry and put the past behind us to move the state forward for the overall interest of the state.

    The support to the incoming government of Alhaji Yahaya Bello would see the aspiration and the expectation of all the people of the state in carrying everybody along irrespective of religion, ethnic and other parochial considerations.

    The appalling situation of Kogi State should be another avenue for the people of the state in rallying around the incoming administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello to place the state in the comity of the most developed states in the country, which would be a pride to all the indigenes, both at home and in the Diaspora.

    The task ahead of the incoming administration is enormous, which requires all the people of the state to cooperate to ensure that the much-needed development is achieved to the benefit of the entire state.

    We also call on the opposition parties and some aggrieved members of the same party with the governor-elect to give peace a chance to move the state forward.

    The coming of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the chief executive of the state should be seen as the expectation of the vast majority of the people of Kogi State who are looking for positive change that had eluded the state for the past years when the state was stagnated without much achievement in all facets of human endeavour.

    We should join hands with the coming government to see the much expected development that has been lacking.

     

    Bala Nayashi

    No 1 Yashi area

     Lokoja,08033559403

     

  • APC warns Wada against auctioning govt property

    APC warns Wada against auctioning govt property

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State Friday accused the outgoing government of Capt. Idris Wada, of plans to auction some government property and award phony contracts before leaving office on January 27.

    The Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, said in a statement made available to The Nation in Abuja that Wada was trying to auction government property at ridiculous prices.

    He warned the outgoing governor against such an action, adding that the party had information that the outgoing administration, which has already incurred nearly N50 billion debt, also plans to award phony contracts.

    The APC chairman warned government appointees and civil servants in the state against aiding and abetting any criminal act, adding that they should rather err on the side of the law.

    He said: “It has come to our notice that the outgoing Capt. Idris Wada-led PDP administration has embarked on illegal sales of government properties and careless looting of the state treasury.

    “We are also not comfortable with the unwholesome manners of awarding major contracts at this dying minute when the governor should be preparing to hand over to our great party, the APC.”

    The new government in the state to be headed by Alhaji Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress is billed for inauguration next Wednesday.

    Bello took over the APC ticket after the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, but the legality of the substitution is still being challenged by Audu’s running mate, Hon. James Faleke, who has said that he will not be available for inauguration as deputy governor to Yahaya Bello.

  • Kogi to immortalize Audu

    Kogi to immortalize Audu

    Governor of Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada Thursday announced plans to name an “edifice in the state” after one of his former predecessors and All Progressives Congress Candidate (APC)  in the November 21, 2015 Kogi governorship election, late Prince Audu Abubakar.

    Audu, the first democratically elected governor of Kogi, died barely 24 hours after voting, and on the edge of being declared winner.

    Wada during an address on his stewardship Thursday in Lokoja, said he will announce the edifice to be named after Audu, before handing over to the newly elected governor, on January 27.

  • Ireyi emerges new Ohi of Adavi

    Alhaji Bello Mohammed Oreyi has been appointed the new Ohi of Adavi in Kogi State.

    Bello emerged the new Ohi on Tuesday after beating nine other contestants in an election conducted by the Council of Kingmakers in the community.

    He succeeds the late Ohi, Dr. Bello Ibrahim, who died on Oct. 14, 2015 at the age of 78 years.

    One of the kingmakers, Mallam Yakubu Beida, while announcing Bello as the new Ohi elect, said that Bello polled eight out of the 13 votes, while four other contestants scored one vote each.

    He said that five other contestants had no vote.

    “Having scored the highest votes which was 8 out of the total votes cast of 13, Alhaji Bello Mohammed Ireyi is hereby declared the winner and returned elected as Ohi of Adavi, “he said.

    Beida said the election of the new Ohi was in accordance with Section 6 sub-section 7, page 5 and Section 9 Sub-Section 1, Page 6 of the Legal Notice, Law No. 2 , 2006 for the creation /establishment and procedure for the ascension of the stool of Ohi of Adavi.

    In his reaction, the Ohi elect described his selection as a call to duty, saying that he would carry other contestants and stakeholders along for the progress and development of Adavi.

    The regent of the town, Alhaji Muhammed Tenuche, advised Bello to follow the footstep of the late Ohi, who he described as a committed ruler who did his best for his subjects.

    He also advised him to ensure unity among the people so that the town would progress.

    He commended the kingmakers for the strict adherence to the rule of law and for creating a level playing ground for all the contestants.

     

  • Faleke, Audu’s son invited by DSS

    Faleke, Audu’s son invited by DSS

    It has been confirmed that the Kogi State deputy governor-elect, Hon. James Abiodun Faleke was invited by the Department of State Security, Abuja, for yet undisclosed reasons.

    An aide to Faleke confirmed to our correspondent that Faleke, along with Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar, eldest son of the late Prince Abubakar Audu, reported at the DSS headquarters in Abuja early Saturday morning.

    Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the aide said Faleke’s invitation by the DSS might not be unconnected with statements credited to him that he will be unavailable for swearing-in as deputy governor of Kogi State on January 27.

    The Director, Media and Publicity of Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation, Hon Duro Meseko who also confirmed the invitation and detention said he was surprised when Faleke and Audu were still being kept in an isolated office till yesterday evening.

    His words: “I am surprised my principal and the eldest son of our political leader, Mohammed, are still being kept as I speak with you which is 4pm. What could be responsible for this ill treatment by the DSS? Or could they be acting the intimidation script? Trying to armtwist them into abandoning the sacred mandate freely given to the Audu/Faleke team by the generality of Kogi people?

    “Let me make it abundantly clear that our mandate is sacred and no amount of of technical detention, intimidation and harassment would shake our resolve to get justice through the judiciary.”

    Pressed further on whether the presidency had any connection with their arrest, Meseko said, “I refuse to believe that the presidency has hands in the arrest, but we may not rule out the fact that the powers that be must have wielded their influence in the arrest, but we are not pertubed over the development, because we believe that God will ultimately vindicate us”.

    Faleke had vowed to be deputy to the Kogi governor-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, insisting that he remains the rightful person to have assumed the position, following the demise of Abubakar Audu, at the verge of being declared winner of the November 21, 2015 governorship election in the state.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was to later declare the election inconclusive, paving way for the emergence of Bello, who was first runner-up at the APC governorship primary.

    Faleke’s petition on the matter is presently before the Kogi State governorship election petition tribunal.

  • Wada urges Nigerians not to lose hope

    Wada urges Nigerians not to lose hope

    Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State has urged the people of the state not to despair in the face of the challenges that currently confront the state and the nation.

    In a New Year message released Thursday in Lokoja by his Chief Communications Manager, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the governor charged the people of the state to see the New Year with renewed optimism, and to be active participants in the struggle to emancipate the state from the shackles of poverty and underdevelopment.

    He thanked the people of the state for conducting themselves peacefully during the last governorship election and expressed satisfaction at the decorous manner in which the people of the state have always handled outcomes of elections even when it is rigged out of their favour.

    He urged supporters to remain calm and allow the party to use due process “to deal with the issues of mass rigging and the strange replacement of APC candidate in the middle of an election, in the true and time-tested style of the PDP”.

    The statement urged the people of the state to pray for an end to the security, political and economic challenges currently confronting the nation.

     

  • Kogi’s sponsored elders

    In Kogi State, they are not content with letting bad enough alone. After nurturing what they like to happily describe as an inconclusive November 21 governorship election, and exhibiting betrayal and opportunism in making unlawful claims, they have now resorted to producing elders and stakeholders, especially from Okunland, to pressure Kogites to accept illegitimacy. The duo of Dino Melaye, a senator, and Clarence Olafemi, a former Speaker of the State House of Assembly and also one-time acting governor, began that crazy and infamous embrace of distorted reality.

    Now, sundry stakeholders and so-called elders groups are coming together by the week to either pressure James Abiodun Faleke, running mate to the late Abubakar Audu in the last and disputed governorship poll, into embracing the illusory Yahaya Bello ticket, considering how both INEC and the APC had made the latter the inheritor of the victorious Audu/Faleke ticket, or to get the party to appoint a new deputy to Alhaji Bello. The problem is not just the appalling sense of justice being displayed by these so-called elders, but the fact that many faceless and disreputable groups now masquerade as elders purporting to speak for the Yoruba Okun of Kogi State. They indicate how easy it is to build a castle to injustice not only in Kogi but in Nigeria as a whole.

  • Kogi assembly crisis: Suspected thugs attack lawmakers

    Kogi assembly crisis: Suspected thugs attack lawmakers

    Four factional principal officers of the Kogi State house of assembly Wednesday escaped death by the whiskers as suspected thugs launched an attacked on them at the Reverton on Hotel, Lokoja, where they have been holed up since last week when they attempted to impeach the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Momoj Jimoh-Lawal.

    The suspected political thugs allegedly loyal to the embattled speaker stormed the hotel around 1pm with armed cutlasses and other dangerous weapons in search of the lawmakers suspected to have spearheaded the move to unseat Jimoh-Lawal as speaker.

    Addressing newsmen in Lokoja the factional speaker, Hon. Godwin Osiyi expressed shock at the attack on the members at Reverton Hotel.

    He explained that following the intervention of the state governor, Capt. Idris Wada who advised that they should take the part of peace, they decided to shift sitting to a later date.

    He pointed out that he and other members remain resolute and that they have been sleeping from one hotel to another for fear of attack.

    Osiyi stated that it was a shock when the younger brother of the embattled speaker led thugs numbering over 50 in a convoy of official vechicles to where they were, smashing three Prado Toyota jeeps and KIA Sportive SUV cars and carted away over N3 million.

    According to him, the cars belong to him, as the new speaker, the deputy speaker, Hon. John Abbah, the majority leader, Hon. Mathew Kolawole, and the minority leader, Hon. Idachaba Salifu Isah.

    The factional speaker said that their lives have been under threat since the speaker was impeached last Thursday, adding that no amount of intimidation can stop the group for carrying out their functions as members of the house.

    Reacting to the insinuations that his younger brother led thugs to attack other members of the house, Jimoh-Lawal stated that he was not aware of any such attack.

    He described the allegation as an attempt to give a dog a bad name, adding that mentioning his name was to tarnish his image and that he is from humble background.

    He noted that his brother is equally from a humble family and could not have led thugs to attack members of the house of assembly, stressing that after all they all met with the state governor, with view to find lasting solution to the crisis.