Wada replies Bello on Kogi state debt profile

Immediate past governor of Kogi state, Capt. Idris Wada has replied to his successor, Governor Yahaya Bello over the allegations that he plunged the state into a huge debt burden while he was the governor.

Recall that Governor Bello during his Independence Day address, had blamed previous administrations in the State for his inability to move the economy forward.

‘To give you an idea of the huge scale of this problem, let me inform you that this administration has had to clear over N50 billion in salary obligations inherited from previous administrations.

He added a line of threat. “Those whose actions hurt our state and people must face reckoning.

Not one to ignore such assault, Wada exonerated himself from blame and urged Bello to face his duties rather than passing the buck. In a widely circulated reaction weekend, the former Governor stated his own story.

He said it was sad for the governor to embark on outright lies when in actual fact, it was public knowledge that the N50.2 billion bailout fund his administration applied for was paid to Bello.

“The fund was meant to clear salary arrears of Local government workers but was not released during my tenure. It was released to Bello which he refused to use for the purposes for which it was meant for.

According to him, there are more pressing and important issues at hand begging for urgent attention than to engage in blame game for his incompetence.

“When I hear that vehicles, travelers and residents are stranded in Ganaja not being able to cross, I feel bad and I think that should be the major concern of any government, not to be engaging in frivolity of blame game and outright propaganda.”

Captain Wada said that it was on record that no administration has exposed the state to more debts than the present administration which had subjected the state to a debt burden of about N120 billion without considering whether or not the state has the capacity.

According to him, “We know our limitations in terms of exposing the state to debt burden. We knew we cannot compete with Lagos or Rivers in terms of borrowing, that was why we limited ourselves to what we have the capacity to borrow, but the present administration have gone ahead to expose the state beyond her capacity and that is unfortunate.”