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By Alex Adeiza (EbiraReporters.com) To crown the visit of the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai to Kogi state, the Governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Wednesday, extended the courtesy to the palace of the Ohinoyi of Ebira land, Dr Ado Ibrahim. The visit which was geared towards addressing the alarming nature of criminal activities in the state was graced by key traditional rulers and stakeholders across the central senatorial district of the state. Buratai stated that his visit to Kogi state was part of the movement to know the state of affairs of the headquarters, Command Army Records in the state, hence providing solutions to their challenges. “We are not unmindful of the challenges being faced here in Kogi State in terms of logistics and movements. We are going to make sure that the state is rid of the elements operating,” he said. He reiterated that Special Forces would be deployed to the state in earnest, adding that they would go after criminal...

The political events of the past five months that GYB took over the mantle of leadership of Kogi State needs overview in order to guide us as to what lies in wait for us. The governor inherited lots of crisis ranging from House of Assembly to nonpayment of workers' salaries, the menace of ghost workers and infrastructural decay that all characterized the immediate and past administrations. The youthful governor has tried within the means and availability of resources at his disposal to surmount the lingering problem of arrears of salaries owed to workers, checkmating the menace of ghost workers and rehabilitation of decayed infrastructures in Kogi State. One area I find disturbing and which has not received the genius attention of the governor is the political crisis rocking the sail of the State's boat. God, in His infinite mercy has sustained the electoral victory of our governor through resounding victories (one after the other) at the Kogi State Election Tribunal. However,...

1-We had the AjaokutaPublicHearing today and the revelations are mind boggling! Do you know Ajaokuta Steel has a university on site? 2-The steel that costs us so much money to import from China can actually be quite easily manufactured in Ajaokuta AjaokutaPublicHearing 3-President Shehu Shagari is a great patriot who meant well for Nigeria by conceiving of Ajaokuta. AjaokutaPublicHearing 4-If we revive Ajaokuta, global auto makers can make cars right here in Nigeria with our steel at a reduced price AjaokutaPublicHearing 5-Ajaokuta can be revived with far less than it cost Nigeria to sustain our greedy political elite in just one year AjaokutaPublicHearing 6-As vital as Ajaokuta is to national devt, ministers in charge didn't show up. But would show up for budget defence!AjaokutaPublicHearing 7-By virtue of the public procurement amendment bill passed by the senate today, we owe it a duty to revive Ajaokuta AjaokutaPublicHearing 8-Ajaokuta has its own airstrip, university, ...

The Sole Administrator of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, Isah Enebere, yesterday revealed that one of the 43 plants installed in the complex was capable of producing 600,000 tonnes of steel annually and that the quantity could cover 10,000 kilometres of rail network across the country. Enebere, who disclosed this at a public hearing organised by the Joint Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives on Privatisation, explained that the company requires N80 billion to operate the plant at full capacity. He further explained that the firm would present a business plan to the Federal Government to be included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed with the Chinese government on the construction of two major rail tracks across the country. He added that the light mill section of the plant, which would require N43 billion to become functional, could produce 400,000 tonnes of steel yearly at full capacity. He also noted that with an investment of the N43 billi...

Distinguished Senator, “Kogi voted for Audu but God voted for Yahaya Bello”. Perhaps, this quote should have been the title of this letter, but before I delve into the kernel of this note to you, it is appropriate to first establish my locus standi. I am a native of Ihima in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi state. Secondly, I am a journalist with close affinity to the hierarchy of the APC and INEC. Thirdly, I am a youth. Although, I am not your constituent, but the above qualifications provide sufficient premises for me to draw conclusions or contribute to issues that have to do with Kogi, APC or the nation, particularly in the realm of politics. I would have called your cell-phone to bare my mind to you, but knowing from experience, that you hardly pick calls nor reply text messages of people you have not met or interacted with before, I have chosen this medium only as a last resort. When in late January, during the swearing-in of “Mallam” Bello, in a cra...

Following queries and concerns raised that new salary accounts have been opened for Kogi State civil servants in Access and Zenith Banks and account details communicated to them, rather than use their existing salary accounts in various banks, Governor Yahaya Bello has offered some insights into that development and the rationale behind it. At a forum on Thursday where the issue came up, the governor explained that the latter day bailout funds received by state governments are actually the end product of the federal government standing surety for state governments, enabling them to approach deposit money banks for facilities. In other words, as against the generally held impression that the federal government has always doled out these funds from its coffers, what happened in the case of Kogi State is that the federal government essentially provided a guarantee for the loan facility to would-be lenders, in favour of the state government. Due to the prevailing economic situation, cas...

BEING AN ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF KOGI STATE BY HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR YAHAYA BELLO, ON HIS JUDICIAL VICTORIES AT THE KOGI STATE ELECTIONS PETITIONS TRIBUNAL. A short while ago, the Kogi State Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja delivered judgment in the last Election Petition brought against my election as Governor of Kogi State. A total of five Elections Petitions were filed against us by various actors some of whom contested as Candidates against us and failed, and some who did not. They canvassed many legal issues, a number of which were confronting the Nigerian Legal System for the first time. Lawyers on all sides found their professional ingenuity heavily tasked as they sought to make sense of provisions the Electoral Act, 2010 and the various Electoral Guidelines and Regulations in the light of the Constitution and extant Judicial Precedence. Punditry lost meaning in the plethora of opinions canvassed in and out of court and in the News Med...

Hon. James Faleke has proven to the world that he is a strong fighter who never relents in his struggle for political power even if it involves fighting God. His case can be likened to Moses in the Bible who had suffered so much to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land but didn’t enter into the land with them because of his disobedient to God. Moses only saw the land but didn’t enter because he doubted the supremacy of God. Faleke, despite that he was imported from Lagos to Kogi state by the All Progressive Congress was accepted by the party supporters as the deputy governorship candidate to the Late Prince Abubakar Audu because they were told to obey the party’s decision. The same party decided that Late Prince Abubakar Audu who died after the result of the Kogi State November, 21 Governorship election was declared inconclusive last year, should be replaced by Alhaji Yahaya Bello, now the Executive governor of Kogi state and he (Faleke) refused to accept the party...

Bello renames Kogi varsity after Abubakar Audu Zovoe Jonathan / 57 minutes ago Bello announced the change in the name of the 15- year-old university during a statewide broadcast to mark his victory at the state governorship election petition tribunal. He said that naming the university was the ultimate honour that could be done to the memory of the late colourful politician who ruled the state twice as the civilian governor from 1991 to 1993 and 1999 to 2003. Audu himself established the university in 2001 and named it Prince Abubakar Audu University, but his successor , Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, changed the name to Kogi State University in 2004. Justifying his decision to restore the university to its original name, Bello said that Audu laid a solid foundation for the growth and development of the state “Today, and as always, I celebrate the life and times of Prince Abubakar Audu, the first Executive Governor of Kogi State. “It is our hope that those who want to lay clai...

Mild drama ensued today in Kogi State Government House as one of the promoted officer to the position of Internal Auditor for Kabba Bunu Local Government Area, Mrs Magareth Iborida was confirmed to have died two years ago but her name has been on the nominal roll of the local government till 9th of June, 2016. This revelation came up when names of the newly promoted officials were called for recognition and confirmation but Mrs Magareth was absent. Finding out the reason for her absent, it was confirmed by the Director of Kabba Bunu Local Government Area and the Administrator of the council that Mrs Magareth had died two years ago. Responding to the situation, Alh Yahaya Bello who decried the politicization of the local government service in Kogi state by the past administrations said his administration will not condone such situation any longer and will do everything possible to clean up the rot in the local Goverment and state civil service systems. When it was also discovered that...

On this day 10 years ago we lost our very own Distinguished Senator A.T. Ahmed!!! A Statesman whose impact on the Nigerian nation as a whole and Kogi State in particular, is arguably, unrivalled by available records, as far as developmental politics and philantropism is concern, your very good deeds and sacrifice for a peaceful Kogi State, is still fresh in our memories. May you continue to rest in peace having built men and institutions that are still propagating your commendable legacies. We are very proud to have your flesh and blood as a Patriotic Member of the 6th Assembly who lived up to expectation by putting the State above self and consistently followed the path of peace and unity in all of your conducts. Finally, A message to Hon. Lawi A.T. Ahmed. I do not mourn our hero and torch bearer, I celebrate him as I celebrate you too on a day like this because you were brave enough to step into his shoes in order to continue in his legacies but again may I appeal to you never to ...

The immediate past council chairmen of Kogi state have reiterated their total support for Senator Ahmed Ogembe, the distinguished senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly. The former chairmen disclosed this during their courtesy visit to the senator in his office at the National Assembly on Wednesday in Abuja. The senator, who served as the chairman of Okene Local government from where he won election to become a senator last February appreciated his former colleagues for the courtesy call. He said that being a senator was an act of God and the  strong desire to serve his people and for quality representation at the upper chamber. The visitors, who took their turns to eulogise the qualities of leadership in the person of senator Ogembe assured him of their total support to succeed. While praising him for the role he has been playing in the political atmosphere of Kogi state and PDP in recent times, they charged him not to relent in his ef...

BEING A CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO OUR ABLE AND ALTRUISTIC LEADER, HIS EXCELLENCY ALH. YAHAYA ADOZA BELLO ON HIS LANDMARK JUDICIAL VICTORY. Congratulations to His Excellency, Alh. Yahaya A Bello as the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the Federal Capital Territory, Jabbi, Abuja, on the 6th, 7th and 8th of June 2016 respectively, upheld and affirmed the divine decree and the peoples' choice, Alh. Yahaya A Bello as the Executive Governor of Kogi state. To my humble self and the good people of Okene Local Government Area, your judicial victory did not come to us as a surprise, but expectedly as an affirmation of a divine decree. It is no longer a news that Kogi state which is divinely endowed with abundant natural resources has been seriously starved of a good and people-oriented leadership, hence her backwardness in human capital development and abysmal infrastructural decay which has made her as a laughing stock amongst her peers. It is not a surprise therefore,...

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has promised to probe the contracts awarded by the past administration, with the aim of recovering public funds spent on such projects. The Governor made the vow on Wednesday when he met with the contractors at the glass hall of the Government House in Lokoja, the state capital in north-central Nigeria. He decried that the rate at which the contracts were abandoned were alarming and unacceptable, warning that the state government would not tolerate such any longer. “Not Fair Enough” The Project Director of Designa Consult, Mr Jimoh Abdulwahab, who went round the projects site in the three senatorial district of the state, read out his findings to the meeting. Mr Abdulwahab also made emphasis on the Lokoja Mini Terminal, which was built and commissioned by the last administration. However, the Managing Director of Planet Project Limited, Biodun Otunola, expressed displeasure with the findings which he termed “not fair enough...

The Kogi State Governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja has dismissed a petition brought before it by the immediate-past governor of the state, Idris Wada, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging the emergence of Yahaya Bello as governor. Mr. Bello was nominated by his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, to replace Abubakar Audu, who died before completion of the polls. Mr. Audu was in clear lead as the Independent National Electoral Commission was collating the results of the governorship election which held on November 21. After his death, INEC declared the election inconclusive and asked APC to name a replacement. Mr. Bello was named the replacement, and he defeated Mr. Wada in the supplementary election that held on December 5. However, Mr. Wada challenged the outcome at the tribunal chaired by Justice Halima Mohammed. He alleged “gross irregularities”, and asked the tribunal to determine whether Mr. Bello was qualified to be declared governo...

Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has hailed the judgement of the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja, which in a unanimous decision today, upheld his victory at the poll. He said the decision of the Bench Lords has further justified his election as the Governor of Kogi State, saying the victory belongs to the people of Kogi State, our party APC and lovers of democracy across the nation. The Governor said the victory does not call for wild jubilation by his supporters, but offers a golden opportunity for his opponents to join the New Direction Initiative of his administration, which is built on the podiums of development, fairness, justice, freedom and shared prosperity from the confluence of opportunities which abound in the state. Governor Bello said he holds no grudge against any party, who had approached the temple of justice to seek redress, saying as a democrat, he will always respect the rights of the citizens. He said his administration is currently putting ...

It's a case between Hon. JAF (Petitioner) and Yahaya Bello and INEC both 1st and 2nd respondents. Tribunal has careful read the preliminary objections and held that no new issue were raise by the petitioner to warrant striking out paragraph 2 of the petition. I hereby dismissed the objections raise by 1st respondent. 2nd objections by the 1st and 2nd respondents on either the petitioner has the right to bring this petition before this honourable tribunal. The court held that: There was no declaration by INEC so the issue of governor or deputy elect does not arise. There is no documentary evidence that the petitioner has been declare deputy elected. As the petition not to have been declared as deputy governor elected the petitioner dose not have the stand as candidate. Consequent upon the fact that a candidate cannot stand alone in an election, the tribunal held that we do not have powers over a political parties right to substitute as this is purely a preelection matter. ...