COVID-19 Vaccine: CSO tackles Bello for being hypocritical

A Civil Society Organisation, CSO, Kogi Patriotic Group has lashed at the Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for raising the bar of hypocrisy in the COVID-19 pandemic which the group insisted is real and taking toll in Kogi State.

The group said, citizens should protect themselves against the pandemic, stating that they cave into the decision of Kogi state government under Yahaya Bello to feign COVID-19 pandemic and denied the innoculation of vaccine in the State.

In a statement he made available to our.correspondent in Lokoja on Sunday, Convener of the group, Abdul Abdul pleaded with PTF, NCDC and Federal Ministry of Health to make available the vaccine to Kogi state and be administered in all designated Federal Tertiary health etablishments and clinics across the State.

He said the Governor has exposed the State to so many avoidable shortcomings, including the provision of basic health care facilities, global threats to health of Kogi citizens and dearth of infrastructural facilities and development.

“This is in addition to misapplication and misappropriation of scarce resources of the state into prosecuting needless and non prioritised projects, that had no immediate or direct bearings on the citizens of the State.

“A Governor who took pleasure in funding artists and musicians at the expense of the impoverished State department of arts and culture, State football teams and others.

“Not long ago, the state teams protested non-payment of salaries and allowances, only to be disbanded by the State government rather than attending to their demands.

“The recent death of the Presidential outrider whose primary assignment was not in Kogi State and possible compensation with the common resources of Kogi State Government with two houses and scholarship is a wasteful venture and deployment of State assets to non priority areas.

“It is against natural justice to be paying workers percentage salaries, percentage pension and gratuities and wasting Kogi funds on flimsy excuses.

“What Kogi State government has wasted in the last six months to service artists, celebrities and others is capable of providing steady portable water that is now a mirage to the residents of the State capital since few months away.

“Even the much celebrated Ganaja flyover is a duplication of project and a ploy to attract the balance of 12 billion naira from the bond market, hence the refusal by the State government to disclose the contract sum and amount.

He urged the people of the State to troop out enmasse for the jab when made available by the NCDC and PTF, saying a government that had no welfare of its citizens at heart, cannot dictate the direction of the health situation of the citizenry.