Stop the blame game, pay Kogi workers – PDP tells Bello

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has asked the Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello, to stop blame game and pay the backlog of salaries owed workers in the state.


In a statement issued in Lokoja on Wednesday by its Kogi State Director of Research and Documentation, Dickson Achadu, the party said it was appalling that the governor and his government have resorted to blaming and maligning the past PDP governors as being responsible for their inability to pay workers.

PDP alleged that the government “particularly overburdened by its sordid performance”, had deployed “falsehood and character assassination in an attempt to secure dubious public sympathy.”

It said the recent attempt by the governor’s spokesman, Kingsley Fanwo, to justify the non-payment of salaries in the state on the alibi of inherited debts only “ended up playing the ostrich.”

“First, it was ghost workers that over bloated the wage bill. Then began the longest screening and staff verification exercise in the history of any people and now inherited debts!

“This government should halt the charade, stop maligning the hard-earned reputation of others and face up to its duties.

“Kogi people who are owed between 4 – 27 months are wailing and tired of excuses. The Bello’s administration should start thinking of how to account for the bailout funds, balance of the N20bn bond, ecological funds, Paris Club refunds, federal project refunds and the monthly allocations it had frittered away in loose living.

“Its death knell is close. Our great party, the PDP, and its two illustrious former governors cannot be intimidated. The mission to rescue fatherland is a task that must be accomplished.

“We sympathise with the hard working good people of Kogi State and urge them to read between the lines and get their PVCs ready. For the clueless administration in Lugard House, defeat is imminent”, the statement said in part.

The party, while detailing the various projects executed by the past two PDP administrations in the state, challenged the APC-led government to show its scorecard in terms of completed projects over the last two years.