Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has said that no accounts belonging to his government have been frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Bello made this clarification late Tuesday after a meeting with President Muhammmadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
There had been reports that the anti graft agency froze an account belonging to the state with N20 billion lodged in a commercial bank.
But responding to a question on the controversy, Bello insisted: “No Kogi State governments salary account is frozen. None whatsoever. None of our accounts has been frozen or had an embargo placed on any of them by EFCC at all. I think it’s just a misrepresentation of facts or is a joke taken too far.
“My Information Commissioner and all those that are concerned with that lies peddled by the EFCC, I think they have responded appropriately. And I will urge each and every Nigerian to please go to the Kogi State website and all the facts are there. The banks have denied that we don’t have such an account. And besides that, the bailout fund that we obtained, we appropriated in line with the agreement and understanding between Kogi State government and the workers.
“And all of this was done, we finished all of this in 2019. So first, there’s no N20 billion account, or N19 billion era, no fixed deposit account. So I don’t know where the lie is coming from.”
He said that he was delighted that his state has been named an oil producing state pledging to use resources accruing therefrom to diversify the state’s economy and develop other sectors.