Kogi alleges planned smear campaign against Bello, fingers bloggers »

The Kogi State Government on Sunday raised concerns over alleged planned campaigns by blackmailers to smear Governor Yahaya Bello ahead of the 2023 general election.

The government said that the persons had been paid millions of naira to embark on the adventure, after a similar failed attempt at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, who highlighted some of the achievements of Bello, said the state government was aware of plans to paint him in bad light.

“Intelligence reports at our disposal shows that a certain George whose other details we prefer to keep for now is at the centre of this conspiracy. If and when his madness manifests, we will respond to him with the applicable legal force. Our gentleness must not be mistaken for cowardice,” he said.

According to him, the state government had unravelled plots by the persons to launch a smear campaign against the governor on the ground that he embezzled funds belonging to the state.

Fanwo said several bloggers and “media-guns-for-hire” had been contracted to regularly publish claims of embezzlement of public funds by Bello and his administration.

The commissioner said, “Fresh on the hills of the discredited allegations against the Kogi State Government by the EFCC backed by some other powerful vested interests in the country, the Kogi State Government is aware of several plots to paint it black in the public perception on a regular basis from now till 2023.

“We hope that you gentlemen of the press will be vigilant and activate your investigative offices before running with such fabricated and unfounded allegations.

“Despite intense pressure and lobbying from across the country and even Nigerians in diaspora, Governor Yahaya Bello has not told anyone that he is running for President in 2023.”

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