From Tunde Rahman, Lokoja
The Kogi state Government has warned opposition parties in the state against alleged plans to import mercenaries from other states to unleash terror and disrupt the forthcoming governorship election in order to win by all means.
The State Governor Yahaya Bello stated this weekend at Anyigba during Dekina/Bassa federal constituency rally of the All Progressive Congress ahead of the November 16 governorship election.
According to him, no amount of evil and sinister plans can hamper the integrity of the election. He also warned that anyone caught would be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“It is only a bastard that will invite a foreigner to come and kill his people because of election.
“Please do me a favour, youths, women and residents of Igala Kingdom you know yourselves, do not take the law into your hands. We are not unaware of their plans to import into Kogi state machineries from Port Harcourt, Nasarawa, Ekiti, Kwara, Taraba, Yaraba and Agatus from Benue state.
“I am assuring them if they have ever succeeded in doing that in other states, Kogi state November 16, governorship election will be exceptional and it will be the last state they will ever intrude to cause mayhem during elections. We are resolute to maintain and sustain the existing peace in the state.
“The forthcoming election is about the future of the citizens of the state and I am optimistic that APC will win the election conveniently because the youths and women in the state have said ‘no’ to political fatherism where governance is been transfer from father to son, from in-law to another in-law,” the governor stated.
He assured that his second term would witness tremendous achievements especially in the area of youth empowerment as he aims to engage them meaningfully to have a brighter future.
“Our second tenure will focus on human capital development, education, security and infrastructural development to improve the living standard of the citizens.
“A situation where we have teeming unemployed youths without jobs is not healthy for the state and unacceptable to us, that is why we are resolute to redouble our effort in ensuring that graduates are meaningfully engaged.
“Our efforts in agriculture value chain have started yielding success as 1700 youths and women in the state have just benefitted from the first phase of the Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP) of Agro-Processing, Production Enhancement And Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) supported by the World Bank.
“We are ready to take advantage of similar projects to better the lives of our people as we are able to take development to our communities within the minimum resources available to us”, he assured.
