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The campaign materials, especially banners belonging to the Kogi Central Senate candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Natasha Akpoti have continued to suffer attacks from hoodlums suspected to be working on the orders of the ruling All Progressives Congress.  The one too many attacks which started over a week ago, got renewed on Tuesday at the Obeiba hometown of the aspirant, in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State, Isah Bala reports.  Commenting on the renewed thuggery activities and political intimidation in Ebiraland, Natasha's team pointed out that it has become necessary for elders and leaders of Ebiraland to wake-up and address the issue, calling on the apex body in Ebiraland, Ebira Peoples Association (EPA) to call all stakeholders and political leaders in the land to addressing the wrong approach the ruling party has decided to sell its candiatate. "Destroying of campaign materials is a primitive approach to winning of election, the political parties shou...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) women in Kogi State have announced their plan to stage a 1.2 million-man march in support of the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar. This is just as the party has announced the streamlining of all its presidential support and volunteer groups across the country to ensure a centralised activity under the supervision of the party and the Presidential Campaign Council. PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, who received a delegation of the presidential women support group, Success Initiative Women for Atiku, at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja yesterday, stated that the party has opened strategic platforms for all support groups to directly participate in the campaign. Ologbondiyan said that Nigerians are eager to vote for Atiku Abubakar due to his proven national and international connection and capacity for wealth creation, massive employment opportunities for the youths, as well as ability to engender national cohesi...

By Emmanuel Adeyemi Sen. Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly, has pleaded with members of his constituency to give him another chance again saying if voted, he will do more to uplift the welfare of his constituents. According to the senator, in his over three years at the upper chamber, he has been at the forefront of fighting for the common good of all and aligned himself to the common man to be the voice of the voiceless even at the detriment of his life. Melaye, in a statement entitled, ‘The Gospel according to Senator Dino Melaye 2019:  Arise oh Compatriots,’ enjoined the electorate not to allow external influences dictate the way they would vote in the February,2019,  senatorial election in the state, saying he stands shoulder high than any other candidate from any party. The statement reads in part, “My people, I salute your courage and perseverance in the face of harsh economic condition and unmitigated misrule never witne...

The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Kogi State chapter, Dr. Kabiru Zubair, has revealed that 79 medical doctors employed by the state government have resigned their appointments. Zubair said they resigned in reaction to irregular payment of salaries. Zubair noted that doctors, who were at the forefront of the struggle for better welfare for health workers, had lost the zeal to fight due to the non-chalant attitude of the government. He said the only available option left was to leave the state civil service. He said: “As at today, a total of 79 doctors have left Kogi State civil service. “In the last nine months alone, 27 doctors have resigned from the Kogi State Specialist Hospital (KSSH), Lokoja, including two consultants. “Forty four have resigned from the state’s Hospitals Management Board (HMB) and eight from the Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba. “More doctors are just waiting for the next available opportunity to leave. The consequences ar...

Organised Labour in Kogi on Tuesday appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to keep his electioneering promise to increase the minimum wage, insisting on N30,000. Onu Edoka, the Chairman, state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), made the appeal while addressing workers and government functionaries after leading them in a protest march to Government House, Lokoja. Edoka, in his message to President Muhammadu Buhari through Gov. Yahaya Bello, stressed the need for the Federal Government to ensure the implementation of the minimum wage. The NLC chairman alleged that the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige, was frustrating the good intention of the Buhari-led administration by trying to subvert the agitations for a new minimum wage. He said Ngige’s intrigues and antics were not encouraging, insisting that N30,000 was nothing compared to what some top government officials spent monthly on feeding their dogs. Edoka urged the president to ensure that his 2015 electioneering cam...

By Tarkaa David  Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, at the weekend declared that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock, saying Nigeria cannot afford to change President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019. Addressing some Buhari support groups in Abuja on the president’s reelection bid, Bello said the second term of Buhari will benefit Nigeria and Nigerians, just as he urged Nigerians to believe in the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC). According to Bello, “the president has justified his mandate and deserves another term of four years”. He said, “Let me thank you all for choosing to support the President. It shows your belief in the future of this great nation. I am also impressed that you are volunteers who are not driven by the material things you stand to gain. “Those who want money know where to go. But those who want a greater Nigeria are with President Muhammadu Buhari. I urge you to preach this to all Nigerians that there is no vacancy in the Villa come 2019”. Go...

Kogi State government said it would use some of its N 6. 17billion federation account allocation to pay workers’ salary and retirees’ pension by next week. The state Commissioner for finance, Mr Idris Asiru, made this known in a statement in Lokoja on Saturday. He said that the amount was what accrued to the state and the 21 local government councils in the state for September. According to him , the state received N 3, 345, 889, 660 billion as statutory allocation after deduction of N 547, 311, 113; Value Added Tax of N 808, 623, 556; exchange gain of N 1, 883, 394 and bank charges of N 34, 287, 809. He said that the councils  allocation was made up of N 2, 832, 733, 120 billion as statutory allocation after a deduction of N 89, 972, 595 million; Value Added Tax of N 553, 917, 494 million; exchange gain of N 1, 413, 902 billion and bank charge of N 25, 740, 562 million. Asiru said that the state government would continue to exhibit probity and transparency in the handling of...

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has said that the 2019 general election will not be a walkover for the ruling All Progressives Congress. He said a lot of work needed to be done by all party members if President Muhammadu Buhari must be re-elected for a second term. Bello said this in his remarks during a dinner Buhari organised in honour of his young supporters at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday night. The governor noted that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party would not be a pushover and advised the APC members against taking anybody or anything for granted. He said, “As members of the APC, we will not deny that our party has a huge task before us in the 2019 general election. “The elections will not be a walkover, the PDP will not be a pushover and we must take nothing and no one for granted.” Bello said the APC that was going into the 2019 elections was radically different from the APC which won the 2015 presidential election. “Fair-weather friends who ca...

Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has described the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the power sector as a demonstration of genuine interest in making life better for the Nigerian people. He stressed that Nigerians could feel the ongoing effort of the federal government in meeting the challenges of development, with particular emphasis on power and other critical infrastructures. Bello stated this Wednesday, while receiving in his office in Lokoja, the chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor James Adache Momoh and members of his management team. The governor who expressed delight on the giant strides of the Buhari-led government in the last three years, promised his support to the organization to enable it deliver on its mandate.  While applauding the plan of the organization to set up an operational office in the state, Bello solicited its partnership in his administration’s rural electrification drive...

By John Akubo • Our relationship is normal, says Bello Close watchers in Kogi State have alleged strained relationship between Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and his deputy, Simon Achuba. The Guardian learnt that the rift had been on in the last seven months, in what observers described as the governor’s deliberate effort to frustrate his deputy out of office. Although Achuba has failed to officially spoken on the issue, it was leant that electricity and water supply to his office has been rendered epileptic. A source told our correspondent that the salary of the deputy governor has not been paid since February this year, even as his wife’s remuneration was allegedly also stopped in March. Those who insist that all is not well with their relationship, said the administrator of his Ibaji local government, Tom Offor, was allegedly removed recently without Achuba’s knowledge. It was leant that Offor was attending an official function with the wife of the governor, Rashida Bello, ...

The Kogi Government on Tuesday donated foodstuffs and other relief materials to flood victims in Ajaokuta Local Government Area of the state. Speaking to newsmen at the distribution centre in Ajaokuta, Mr Sanusi Yahaya, the state Coordinator, Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), said that the items were meant to alleviate the suffering of the flood victims. Represented by Mrs Dorcas Enehe, the Director, Climate Change in the ministry, Yahaya said that the items would be distributed to the flood victims in all the affected local governments across the state. Yahaya, who doubles as the state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, reiterated the commitment of the Gov. Yahaya Bello’ Administration to meeting the needs of internally displaced persons and victims of the 2018 flood disaster in Kogi. “We were in Bassa LGA last week to distribute items to victims under Bassa Nge District in Shintaku, and today, we are here in Ajaokuta to do same for Geregu, Native Town and Niger...

Permit me to tell you the little I know about Engr. Joseph Asuku Bello and what's expected from him. PERSONALITY Engr. Joseph Asuku Bello (JAB) has a personality which has always been taint free and nothing short of amiable, which without a doubt, is the personality many positive young ones look up to as a  hallmark of true leadership. As he often says, and which has come to be his watchword; "If I can't add to the good family name and reputation, I will never do anything to spoil it."  I can and will authoritatively say that Engr. Joseph Asuku Bello is the leader that we have been craving for. Ask questions about him I bet you'll be awed. QUALITIES A man full of integrity, honesty, so down to earth and always ready to sacrifice for his people. Engr. Jab's charismatic qualities has always been on check right from the days he was a student and actively involved in youth activism (or unionism, depending on your perspective) , those who knew him back then c...

Isaac Asimov said something significant and I quote, “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” Distinguish ladies and gentlemen of our dear state Kogi, especially my home town Kogi Central, pardon me for taking you through the torture of having to read long articles from me. I cannot leave you alone because I have no business suggesting ways to fix other peoples' problem when I have mine staring at me for help. It is clear to me that I was never a mistake to be born and brought up by you and for this reason I was born, for this purpose i came into the world that truth, justice and good governance must be preach regardless of the incessant threats coming from certain vested interests whose palettes were not sweetened by my savour. The accidental public servant, having lost a sense of direction as to what...

The General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry Worldwide, Pastor William F. Kumuyi will be in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital on Wednesday, October 24 for a night of crusade. The Kogi State Overseer of the Deeper Life Bible, Church, Pastor Raymond Egunjobi, who disclosed this in Lokoja at a press briefing, said all necessary arrangements were being made for success of the crusade tagged: “Divine Connection for Miracles.” He said the programme which holds at the main bowl of the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, would attract between 50,000 to 100,000 participants from across the state and its environs, adding that transportation arrangements were being made for the people. Pastor Egunjobi, who described the third visit of Pastor Kumuyi to Kogi as a “springboard that would usher in a new lease of life for the whole state”, urged the people to attend the programme for divine solutions to their challenges. “I crave your indulgence to go down memory lane to recall that ...

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Alonge, former Kogi West leader of the council was the sole candidate in the election. Isreal Alonge, on Friday emerged as the newly elected chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria, Kogi chapter. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Alonge, former Kogi West leader of the council was the sole candidate in the election. In his acceptance speech, he thanked the delegates for giving him their mandate and promised to further unite youths of the state. He said: “The council under my leadership as a servant- leader is one that will bring together Kogi youths. “We are the history that will be talked about in no distant time. What we choose to write with our present will definitely be read out as our history. “We have chosen to unveil the hidden strengths and creative potential in our youths to make them useful to our dear state and the larger global community.” The newly elected chairman also promised to use his office to promote creat...

It goes without saying that the forthcoming senatorial election in Kogi central slated for February 2019 promises to be a Titanic battle between the APC candidate, Alh Yakubu Oseni, PDP candidate, Ogembe and the SDP candidate, Natasha Akpoti.  However, political pundits are of the view that Alh Oseni will have an easy run because of his formidable structure that cuts across every nook and cranny of Kogi central. The candidate of PDP, senator Ogembe, will find it difficult to return to the office because of his perceived non-performance in the Senate under this democratic dispensation. Observers are of the view that the candidate of SDP, Natasha, may make an impact in the election given her acceptance in Ihima and dominance of the social media. However, the Goliath that she may have to slay is lack of structure by her party in Kogi central where APC and the PDP are the dominant parties ab initio, the candidate of APC has successfully built a reputation as a goal getter, team play...

...a Punch Newspaper Exclusive... Nigerians woke up to yet another news of plane crash on Sunday, October 29,2006 when  Aviation Development Company Airlines Flight 53 operated by ADC Airlines crashed  shortly after take-off from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria. Immediately after take-off from Abuja, the Boeing 737 contacted the ground, broke up and caught fire in a farm. The flight carried 100 passengers and five crew members. The plane carried a number of high profile personalities like Muhammadu Maccido, the Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Muslims, the sultan’s son, Senator Badamasi Maccido, Dr. Nnennia Mgbor, the first ever female West African ENT surgeon, and Abdulrahman Shehu Shagari, son of former President Shehu Shagari. Out of about 105 passengers and crew, only nine people survived and interestingly out of them, three daughters of Ibrahim Idris, former governor of Kogi State cheated death. The crash, which was the eleventh...