Kogi Election: Bello Dumps Deputy Governor, Picks New Running Mate
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has reportedly picked his Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja, as his running mate for the November 16 governorship election.
Naijaparry learned that Bello submitted Onoja’s name to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), during his trip to Abuja last week.
Confirming the news to reporters, one of the governor’s aides said the news is true, replying “Yes”, before providing a link one of the social media pages of the Chief of Staff.
Naijaparry reports that Bello had a public fallout with his Deputy, Simon Achuba which led to him been dumped.
Earlier this year, allegedly on the orders of the governor’s ADC, all the security aides of Elder Achuba were withdrawn.
Those close to Achuba said Bello seemed to have more confidence in his Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja, and as such, delegated more responsibilities to him than to his deputy.
The governor, on many occasions, described Onoja as his “twin brother”, apparently an open declaration of his confidence and trust in his chief of staff.
Also, Achuba had vowed to seek legal redress at the National Industrial Court if Governor Yahaya Bello fails to release the statutory allocations allegedly due to his office after the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum.
A demand notice to the governor, signed by Femi Falani on the instructions of the deputy governor, called for the release of all statutory allocations due to the office of the deputy governor for 2017, 2018 and 2019 amounting to N819,709,980.00.
Kogi Assembly Begins Move To Impeach
The Kogi state house of assembly has started proceedings to impeach Achuba.
Majority leader of the house, Abdullahi Bello, on Wednesday, read a petition against Achuba at plenary.
According to him, signatures of 21 of the 25 lawmakers have been collected for the impeachment.
The member who represents Ajaokuta constituency, cited section 188 of 1999 constitution and thereafter prayed the house to commence investigation ahead of the impeachment of the deputy governor.
The speaker of the house of assembly, Kolawole Matthew, agreed to the prayers in the petition and asked that impeachment notice be served on the deputy governor.
Kogi APC Suspends Yahaya Bello’s Deputy
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state also suspended Achuba from the party.
APC Chairman in the state, Abdullahi Bello, announced this on Thursday at a press conference in Lokoja, the state capital.
According to him, the deputy governor was suspended for alleged anti-party activities before, during and after the 2019 general election.
Chief Judge Constitutes Panel To Probe Achuba
The Chief Judge of Kogi, Justice Nasir Ajanah has formed a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct filed against Achuba by the state House of Assembly.
Naijaparry understands that Ajanah, who made this known in a statement on Friday in Lokoja said the constituted panel was in line with the provisions of section 188 of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).