Yahaya Bello denies divisive comments credited to him

Governor Yahaya Bello says there are attempts by some agents of destabilisation to disrupt the peaceful co-existence of all ethnic groups in Kogi state.

The Governor stated this while reacting to divisive comments credited to him by some individuals in the state.

According to a Facebook post by Sam Noni, an aide Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, Governor was quoted to have said that he would get the Igala ethnic group in Kogi state to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in Saturday's election with as little as N6,000.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1160156587489972&id=100004869256774

Describing the allegation as false, the Governor maintained that such post poses great danger to the state and country at large.

While urging electorates to come out and exercise their civic duty on Saturday, Bello stated that legal actions would be taken against any individual involved in the spread of fake news against him.

"A few days ago an image of me was posted online with a quote which insults the family and political values of a section of our society. The unforgivably inflammatory text attached to the post, which is completely false, was attributed to me," he said.

"The said statement is incredibly bigoted, insensitive, insulting, and instigating. I did not make it and I could not have made it because it offends my values and worldview. I am disgusted that anyone would not only think it up, but go ahead to ascribe it to me.

"My signature has been uniting our people in and out of government. In my very first appointments after Inauguration I symbolically appointed 3 gentlemen, one from each Senatorial District of Kogi State, into key positions. Since then, I have not relented in preaching and practicing unity and peace and progress of all Kogites.

"My time in office has been singularly dedicated to breaking down the walls of ethnicity which divide us and institutionalising equity and equality. Thus, when people cook up lies like this and circulate it publicly without giving thought to the possible dangers to society, I become even more committed to defending our oneness with all the resources at my disposal.

"While it is usually not my practice to respond personally to issues like this, when a post is particularly incendiary like this one, it becomes tantamount to soaking the fabric of our society in fuel and trying to put fire to it. In such circumstances, I consider it my duty to step up personally to douse the flames.

"Our citizens can rest assured that we know those behind this latest attack on the peace of our State. I urge Kogites to ignore the current failed attempt to disunite us by the agents of destabilisation. Some of them were already standing trial for cybercrimes and fake news before now. At the appropriate time, we will make sure that they face the law for this particular attempt too.

"Finally, I salute the resilience of our citizens who have remained positive following the shocking cancellation of elections by INEC few hours to start of voting last week. I urge our people to still turn out en masse to vote our candidates this Saturday as rescheduled," he added.