Group accuses Governor Bello of wasting Kogi’s finances....

While the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello is preparing for its 110 days in office celebration, the Audu/Faleke Political Organisation has accused the government of fiscal indiscipline and recklessness.

According to a statement signed on behalf of the group by its director on media and publicity, Duro Meseko, people in Kogi state are living in poverty, want, misery.

“Despite repeated warnings, the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello has continued its grandstanding by throwing caution to the wind and engaging in mind blowing financial recklessness to the detriment of the long suffering people of Kogi state.

“Only recently, precisely the third week of April, reports indicate that Bello’s government secured another loan of N400 million from the Zenith Bank under the subhead of security votes! This is different from another N450 million he secured in early March.

“More worrisome is the government’s alleged withdrawal of N200 million every week from an Abuja Zenith Bank branch still in the guise of security vote. Pray, how can the state make any progress in this unfortunate situation? Can our own dear state ever witness any infrastructural development or growth with this spate of financial recklessness? Is it even logical to take loans for security?” the group wondered.

The Audu / Faleke group challenged Bello to show what he achieved within 100 days as per infrastructural development.

Commenting on the bailout approved for state, the group urged Bello “to come clean on the current staff strength of the state vis-a-vis the staff strength before he took over”.

“The governor has been boasting of the success of his staff verification programme, so let him tell us the staff strength now, what he will pay them from the bailout and what he would be paying back to the CBN”.

The Audu / Faleke group recalled that the government led by Idris Wada applied for the N50 billion bailout based on some statistical data during his tenure. Noting that Bello secured part of the bailout and reduced staff strength based on his verification exercise, the group stressed that the people of Kogi demand answers to the following questions:

“What is he going to do with the extra money, how much were we paying as salaries before and how much are we going to be paying henceforth? Or is Alhaji Bello going to be paying the same salaries as paid under Wada administration?”