Governor Bello disowns commissioner over attempted assassination report
The Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has faulted the claim of his Commissioner of Information, Kingsley Fanwo over raising alarm that there was an attempt to assassinate him (Bello) on Sunday as widely reported
Penpushing reports that the Governor in reaction feigned ignorance on the claim of his commissioner as reported in the media and suggested that the allegation of assassination attempt on his life emanated on social media.
‘Thereafter I began to hear on social media about assassination attempt. I want to state categorically very clear, dear Nigerians, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, that there was no assassination attempt on me, Yahaya Bello, the executive governor of Kogi State by the military or by anybody’, he said.
Penpushing further reports that Bello addressing journalists in Abuja said the incident was a minor disagreement between his security details and a sister security agency and no attempt was made on his life.
‘This afternoon at about 14000 hours, we took off from Lokoja coming to Abuja and the journey was smooth along with my convoy. Just about 16000 hours, my convoy, the security especially had an encounter with another sister agency and there was a fracas’, he said.
‘Immediately we waded in and it was resolved. From there we had a smooth journey down to Abuja and ever since I came, I’ve been engaging in all the activities that brought me to Abuja’, the governor emphasised.
Penpushing also reports that the governor said the Lokoja – Abuja highway is safe and that an assassination attempt on him or anyone on his convoy couldn’t have been possible, as he equally commended various security agencies including the military, police, state security service agents, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense corp, vigilante group members and professional hunters for securing the highway.
The Governor pointed out that it is natural to have such misunderstanding between operatives of sister security agencies. and called on the authorities to investigate the fracas, rather than wrongly painting picture of assassination attempt on his life
‘It’s natural. Sometimes there will be fracas between sister agencies that are performing their lawful duties; that sometimes can’t be ruled out. But assassination attempt, there is nothing like that. It has been resolved’, Bello said.
‘And I don’t condone any act of indiscipline. That fracas to even have happened in the first place, I called on the Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Army, the DSS and all law enforcement agencies that are around me and, on the road, to investigate it and ensure that whoever is culpable is punished according to the rules and regulations of the various services’, he added.
Penpushing reports that Bello who is at the tail end of his second term in office, as the state prepares for Governorship election in November, while commending security operatives for their effective collaboration in securing Kogi State urged that unruly officers should be punished.
The Commissioner of Information it is recalled had on Sunday announced that his principal’s convoy was attacked on his way to Abuja from Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, and claimed the attack was an assassination attempt on the governor.
‘The Kogi state government wishes to inform the general public that there was an assassination attempt on the governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, a few kilometres away from Abuja, on his way to an official engagement from Lokoja’, he wrote.
‘The attack occurred at about 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22. The attackers, who were dressed in military uniforms, waylaid the governor’s convoy and started shooting sporadically at his vehicle and other vehicles in the convoy. It took the swift intervention of the security personnel attached to the governor to foil the satanic plans of the unknown soldiers’, Fanwo added.
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