Barely a few days after berating his aides over what he described as poor misrepresentation of his administration, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has directed the freezing of all state and local government accounts with immediate effect.
After the governorship election which lad to the emergence of his anointed candidate, Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress, Bello accused some of his aides and some politicians in the state of betrayal and promised to deal with them decisively.
The directive has caused confusion and anxiety in the state as political pundits say the promised ‘payback’ may have started.
They say the next possible line of action will be mass layoff and transfers, development thst they argue will heighten the already tensed atmosphere.
However, in a statement on Thursday, the Commissioner for Finance, Asiru Idris, said no imprest or any form of payment should be made to anyone from Government Account henceforth.
According to the statement, all “standing orders and investment instructions are hereby cancelled forthwith”.
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“All Kogi State and Local Government Accounts are hereby frozen with effect from today, Thursday 22nd November 2003.”
Bello, who is at the end of his eight-year double tenure, is expected to hand over power to the Governor-Elect, Usman Ododo, in January 2024.
Ododo, an ex-Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Bello, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate had won the November 11, 2023 Kogi State Governorship Election.