Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Bello Yahaya on Wednesday denied reports claiming that he was refrained from traveling abroad by security operatives because he was owing civil servants.
The report alleged that Bello was restrained from travelling for pilgrimage on the account that he had not paid workers.
But Yahaya, through his Chief Press Secretary, Kingsley Fanwo in a statement described the report, which was attributed to one Amuda Suleiman, as calumnious.
The statement reads, “The architects came up with so many versions of the story. To some dreamers, Buhari stopped the Governor. To some mischief-brewers, security agencies barred the Governor from travelling. And to the last set of abridged thinkers, Sen. Dino Melaye physically went to the airport to stop the Governor.
“To set the record straight, nobody stopped the Governor from travelling abroad. Nobody would have anyway, because he reserves such right to travel even as salary payments have been ongoing. Only a few MDAs who have not complied with the wagebill integrity are yet to be paid and they are few.”
The statement quoted the governor’s spokesperson as saying the aim of the alleged sponsor of the report was to smear the personality of the Governor and cause a distraction in a time where civil servants have refused to embark on strike.
Urging workers to shun the report which also claimed there would be retrenchment, Fanwo assured that the state government is doing all it can to ensure that genuine workers are paid promptly.
“Governor Yahaya Bello understands that both delivery and distraction are competing for his attention. Yielding to distraction will surely stifle delivery,” he said.
