By Magnus – 2020-01-30 07:17:05 – [ News ]
Kogi State Governor, Mr. Yahaya Bello, of All Progressive Congress (APC) was sworn into office for a second term on 27 January 2020. Bello took his first oath of office on January 27, 2016 as replacement for late Abubakar Audu, who died shortly before the declaration of the results of the election he had worn.
No doubt the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State will go down in history as the most controversial election in the history of the state and perhaps Nigeria. The election was marred with the worst violence, murder and other electoral fraud that boggles the mind. Nevertheless, Bello secured another chance to serve his people for a second term in office, but not without complaints from many quarters.
The election generated national discourse due to the alleged poor handling of the process by the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the security agents, and over-zealous party stakeholders desperate to return Bello to power. There was also protest by the opposition Peoples Democratic party (PDP), which also alleged widespread rigging and manipulation of the process that led to Bello’s victory. The candidate of PDP, Mr. Musa Wada, had rejected the result and is currently at the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja to challenge Bello’s victory.
But Governor Bello had described his re-election as victory for true democrats, saying it would spur him to do more for the people of the state. In his inauguration speech, Governor Bello called on the people of the state, particularly his political opponents, to put aside all differences of politics, ideology or affiliation and join hands with him to give the state the best of governance.
Bello made the declaration on Monday at Lugard House, Lokoja, shortly after he was sworn in by the Chief Judge of Kogi State, Justice Nasiru Ajanah. He also hit the ground running by naming 17 commissioner-designates. All the commissioner-nominees have been cleared by the state Assembly and were inaugurated immediately.
According to Bello, his ‘Next Level’ in Kogi State would rely on synergy at every stage, primarily the one between the people and the government, but also with a wide array of domestic and international investors, service providers and development partners spread across the public and private sectors.
According to him, “Kogi voters have re-elected us with the most historic margin in a gubernatorial election ever seen in this state and it is now incident on us to keep our electoral promises and we shall do just that.
“We will sustain focus on agriculture for improved food security, mass employment and increase in internally generated revenue. We will take the agricultural revolution, which we started in the first term to the Next Level.”
Governor Bello also promised to build the nation’s largest ethanol plant in Kogi State for the production of ethanol fuel from cassava as this would and further expand the use of green fuels in Nigeria given that climate. He also added that outside agriculture, his administration would also pay greater attention to human capital development by investing more in training of the people for enhanced relevance in a technologically evolving future.
However, the governor’s first tenure was characterized by a series of controversies, which affected governance and development. Firstly, there was the protracted legal tussle between Bello and the former running mate to late Prince Abubakar Audu, James Faleke.
Secondly, the staff verification exercise embarked upon by his administration shortly after his inauguration also generated a lot of misgivings. Labour had accused the governor of trying to illegally lay off its members from work. In the ensuing controversy, the workers had alleged non-payment of salaries for several months. But that incidence appears to be history with the restorati
MEGA NEWS 