Yahaya Bello, the governor of Kogi State, has said indications revealed criminals were coming during electioneering process, hence the reason for digging up roads to certain communities in the State.
Recall Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to represent Kogi central senatorial district had described the excavation of roads leading to localities considered her strongholds as politically motivated.
The excavation on the eve of the presidential and National Assembly election, according to Akpoti, was a deliberate attempt to prevent electoral officials from getting to the five local government areas in her senatorial district.
However, featuring on Arise Television on Friday evening, governor Bello admitted cutting off the road, citing security reasons.
While commenting on his relationship with Uduaghan, Bello said, “I usually avoid talking about her simply because she’s my sister and my subject and I’m bound to provide a level playing ground for everyone to carry out the electioneering process as free as possible and I’ve always provided that.
“Honestly, if you ask me today why she continues to mention my name probably she has not said the truth, why? My name is so sweet in her mouth.
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“She goes to bed and dreams it’s Yahaya Bello. If she has any issues with her husband and friends, it’s Yahaya Bello. Anything that goes right or wrong with her it’s Yahaya Bello. ”
On the road digging, he revealed, “So, did I dig some entering and exit roads, yes, I did. I did that because as the chief security officer, I must take every step to protect the lives and property of all at all times.
“Every day, I continue to come up with security measures and improve on it to secure the lives of the people. I study to move ahead of criminals at all times. In 2019 some people were killed and mainly they were our supporters even a day before the 2019 general elections.
“We realised that these criminals did not fly in but moved through the roads and we identified some of these roads. Then comes 2023 and there are indications that these criminals were coming.
“Long before the election, we had mapped out those roads all across Kogi central and other places. All these attacks that were carried out and people killed, these were the roads they passed through.
“And there are other roads people pass through. Those dug roads served as escape routes.
“So what we did was to dig up those roads so that if you commit a crime and try to escape, we’ll catch you. I chose good timing as well because that is when they usually come to commit crimes during the electioneering campaign. We are aware of the machineries that were brought in from different parts of the country.”
