Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Federal government has been told to as a matter of urgency mop up illegal firearms that are in the hands of hoodlums in Kogi State before the November 16 governorship election.
A group under the aegis of Salvage movement for a better Kogi State urged the Federal government through security agencies to conduct discreet investigations and search in all the 21 local government areas in the state with a view to fishing out illegal firearms.
In a press statement made available to newsmen in Lokoja and signed by the chairman of the group, Comrade Hassan Isiaka, it said the number of arms and ammunition in the hands of inappropriate persons in the state was appallingly worrisome and dangerous to all peace-loving people of the state.
According to the statement, the influx of illegal arms into the state in the last three years, especially during the last general elections, has made the state a high-risk to live or do business as the state continues to witness violent crime rate
The statement which highlighted how the current administration allegedly grounded the state, said aside not paying salaries to workers, the administration had crippled the state university in Ayingba with the sack of over 134 lecturers most of whom are professors and Ph.D. holders. The group lamented that 88 medical doctors had left the state civil service and the Specialist Hospital, Lokoja due to lack of salaries.
To put an end to all these and avert a gloomy future, the group advocated “a mature, highly intelligent and innovative person with a sound military background,” to take the mantle of the leadership of the state in the November 16 governorship election stressing that such person’s military training will come handy in curbing the proliferation of arms in the state.
The statement reads in part: “The damage done to all sectors of our economy by the actions and policies of the Yahaya Bello-led administration will sink the state if urgent measures are not taken by patriotic citizens of Kogi State.
“While the whole world is aware that Yahaya Bello is owing civil servants in the state between five the 39 months salary arrears, this is not the only reason why the people of Kogi State … their governor with passion. He has grounded all critical sectors of the state’s economy! The health and education sectors are the worst hit.”
But reacting to these allegations, the governor through his media aide, Kingsley Fanwo, said the group was only trying to be apprehensive for nothing as Yahaya Bello had been adjudged as the best in terms of security, stressing that the state was more unsafe to live before the advent of this current administration.
On the allegations that he was not paying salaries, he said the government inherited some salary arrears from the previous government, but assured civil servants that their salaries would be paid this week.