ABUJA – A businessman and Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Dr. Joseph Erico Ameh, has said that he would right the wrongs and inadequacies of the present government if elected governor in November. According to him, his regime would be people-oriented if elected in the governorship election. A statement issued by the Media Office of the Erico Campaign Organisation obtained by journalists in Abuja said “unlike what is presently in place, he will not run a government of entertainment, by entertainers and for amusement.”
“Kogi was not created to entertain the rest of Nigeria. I won’t run a government of entertainment; I won’t run a government for fun seekers but will work hard to improve the standard of living of my people. I have done it in the private sector and by God’s grace, I will do it again and better in the public sector”, he stated. He recalled that in 1991 after the creation of Kogi State by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida (retd), the elders and stakeholders who agitated for the creation of the Confluence State must have been very pleased with themselves.
Ameh, however said they never envisage that the state they laboured so hard to see the light of day would suffer inept governance that had “turned the state to a laughing stock and an entertainment to the rest of the country.” He said, “Kogi State is in dire need of a serious-minded leader with the capacity and political will to turn around its battered and repressed fortunes.
But the government of Governor Yahaya Bello, mired in the endless controversy of marathon screening of the civil service and non-payment of salaries, has only acquired the penchant for churning out one ludicrous absurdity after another. “On August 17, 2017 when President Muhammadu Buhari returned from his medical pilgrimage in United Kingdom, Kogi State Government promptly declared a public holiday to celebrate the President’s return. For a state already suffering from the adverse effects of the nationwide economic downturn, it is ridiculous to ground economic activities and sacrifice productivity on the altar of personal interests.
“In December 2017, during Ekwuenchi masquerade festival which is celebrated annually among the Ebira-speaking people of Kogi State, the governor turned the festival to a mega show of flamboyance and waste of funds as he reportedly brought all his political appointees as well as caretaker chairmen of the 21 Local Governments of the state to his ancestral home for the celebration. “During the festival, the governor allegedly gave out six Toyota Venza SUVs and N2 million cash to each of the custodians of the masquerades who served as the substance of the Ekwuenchi festival.
This led to general outcry across the state given the fact that civil servants were grappling with impoverishment occasioned by non-payment of salaries and pensions. And to cap it all, the governor used the occasion to inaugurate his state-of-the-art country home in Okene with dignitaries in attendance.” The PDP governorship aspirant wondered where between Lugard’s House, Lokoja – the seat of power in Kogi state and Aso Rock, the Presidential seat of power, governor Bello spends more time. He said, “Yahaya Bello has become a frequent visitor to Aso Rock for vague reasons as opposed to spending more time in Lugard’s House and attending to the plethora of challenges faced by the good people of Kogi state.
“As the youngest governor in the country, and with a relatively very young cabinet and appointees, it was supposed to be a dream government that would hit the ground running and expedite the socio-economic development that the state has for so long yearned for.
“It was supposed to be a paradigm shift from inefficient old politicians running the state according to the dictates of their greed, to a young, people – oriented, contemporary minded good governance. But what the people of Kogi State seem to have gotten is a puerile and inefficient governance that has become the entertainment of the rest of Nigeria.”