Kogi Acting Gov Sacks Political Appointees

Acting governor of Kogi State, Abdullahi Bello has debunked news reports that he has relinquished the position for the governor-elect, Idris Wada. And he has promptly demonstrated that he is at the helms by announcing the sack of the Secretary to the State Government, the Chief of Staff and all other political appointees of their appointments “with immediate effect”.

In a statement today, the acting governor said the rumour was ‘’ a calculated plot to destabilise and cause a breach of peace in the state.”
He said it was untrue, unimaginable and totally unfounded and urged the security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities.

‘’Government wishes to place on record that, the position of an Acting Governor is not a creation of any form of political conjecture but a product of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Government wishes to state further that the Acting Governor was administered with the oath of office by the Chief Judge of Kogi State on the 27/01/2012, in line with the letters of the constitution.
“Government wishes to assure the people of Kogi State that the Acting Governor will not submit himself to any act that will be deemed to be an affront on the constitution to the Republic of Nigeria.”

Acting Governor Bello told the sacked political appointees to hand over all government properties in their possession to the Permanent Secretary or the most senior staff in their respective ministries or departments.
Bello was sworn in Friday by the state chief judge following the Supreme Court judgement that former Governor Idris Ibrahim and four other governors had spent more time than the constitution allowed.
The Federal Attorney General then ordered that speakers in the five states affected should be sworn in, in acting capacity.

Kogi State, however, presents a complicated scenario as an election held last December had produced a new governor, Idris Wada, who is expected to be sworn in in March.
But with the sudden sack of Ibrahim Idris, Wada was sworn in by the President of the Customary Court, leading to a situation where the state that styles itself the ‘Confluence’, after its two famous rivers of Niger and Benue, now has two governors. (PM News)