Bello warns ‘hired mercenaries’ to stay off state

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has warned mercenaries allegedly being hired by opposition political parties to disrupt Saturday’s governorship election to stay off in their own interest or face the full weight of the law.

Governor Bello, who gave the warning at Anyigba over the weekend during the APC Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency rally ahead of the November 16 governorship election, said “no amount of evil and sinister plans” can hamper the integrity of the election.

He said the government was aware of alleged plans to import mercenaries from Port Harcourt, Nasarawa, Ekiti, Kwara, Taraba and Agatus from Benue State into the state, saying that such people should not dare it.

“I am assuring them if they have ever succeeded in doing that in other states, that Kogi State come November 16 governorship election will be an exception and it will be the last state they will ever intrude to cause mayhem during election. 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 the women in the state have said no to political godfatherism where governance was transferred from father to son and from in-law to another in-law,” Bello said.

He assured that his second term would witness tremendous achievements especially in the area of youth empowerment, adding that attention would also be given to human capital development, education, security and infrastructure development to improve the living standard of the citizens.

“A situation where we have teeming unemployed youths 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 the agriculture value chain have started yielding successes as 1,700 youth and women in the state have just benefitted from the first phase of the Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP) of Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Supports (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 said.