Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

Director General of Kogi State Bureau for Information Services and Grassroots Mobilisation, Mallam Abdulkarim Abdulmalik has enjoined critics of Governor Yahaya Bello-led administration to always cross-check facts before criticizing the government.

Mallam AbdulKarim in a chat with journalists was particularly irked by a media report credited to Senator Tunde Ogbeha alleging that “Kogi state is being governed without direction.”

Describing the statement as unfortunate and unpatriotic, the DG claimed that never in the history of Kogi state has any governor been transparent, accountable and diligent as Alhaji Yahaya Bello who always make public, all the allocations accrued to the state.

He further noted that on assumption of office in January, Bello met an over bloated wage bill as a result of ghost workers and unintended beneficiaries milking the state’s lean resources. This according to him was tackled headlong by constituting Staff Screening and Verification Committee to ascertain the true work force which prevented billions of Naira being diverted on the monthly basis.

He drew the attention of the critics to the decrepit state of the state capital before inauguration of the present administration, a situation Bello promptly arrested through reviving monthly sanitation exercise. “Which other direction does he wants from a governor who is barely a year in office and has achieved these”? he quizzed.

“Today, no appointment is an exclusive right of any region, the so-called plum appointments were given to people from the senatorial zone other than the sitting governor. Merit and competence have been enthroned as against the former practice of nepotism and favouritism.Township road networks across the three senatorial districts are receiving serious attention. This is the New Direction in action!” he exclaimed.

The Information boss who reiterated that the administration is ever ready to listen to constructive criticisms from any quarters, said such should be done without selfish interests as this could impede the novel and lofty efforts of the governor to cleanse the state from its erstwhile toga of the worst governed state in the country.