Governor Yahaya Bello: APC  governorship candidate

By Richard Elesho/ Lokoja

A social crusader, Okai Austin, has accused Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello of abandoning governance of the state to pursue an inordinate 2023 presidential ambition.

In a statement he issued on the matter in Abuja, Okai said Bello’s decision to abandon the ship of governance has heightened insecurity in Kogi State.

He described the assassination of a Saudi Arabia-based oil explorer, Mr Ogacheko Atanu, in his own compound at Idah, Kogi state, as a dangerous signal that residents of the state are no longer safe, even in their bedrooms.

“It is sad and shameful that while Atanu was killed right in his compound on Saturday, Governor Bello was nowhere near the state. He was seen in Chief of Naval Staff’s office in Abuja praising the Navy for improved security in Idah.

“This, once again, confirmed the fact that governor Bello is disconnected from reality on ground and not in touch with happenings in the state.

“It should be recalled that even on December 25, 2020, when Christmas was being celebrated, kidnappers operated unhindered in Kogi, raking millions from their victims.

“It is more worrisome that all these are happening under a governor who claimed he is ready to be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I begin to wonder what manner of president will Bello be where his own people are kidnapped left, right and center in the state he is governing?

“It is either Governor Bello is grossly incompetent or he is simply looking the other way while Kogites are being assassinated and kidnapped by bandits so that those he believed can make him either President or Vice President in 2023 can adjudge him as being politically correct,” he said.

Okai counseled Bello to face governance in Kogi and make the state safe for residents and visitors instead of running from pillar to post struggling to be the Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.

He called on well-meaning Kogites to tell Governor Bello to focus on performing the major function of his office by protecting the lives and properties of the people who are now helpless in the state.