Bello is Kogi new Pharaoh ―PDP

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Kogi state on Wednesday condemned the clampdown on its members by security agents, saying the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, is ruling the state like Pharaoh.

The party noted that the rule of tyranny now reign in the state, calling for the release of Austin Okai, arrested on “trump up” charges.

A communiqué issued at the end of the stakeholders meeting of the Kogi west senatorial district of the party, the PDP alleged that Okai was arrested on the order of the governor.

It however called for the “immediate release of Okai, a blogger and PDP member, who after being incarcerated several days was released on bail by a magistrate court only to be rearrested in the court premises by officers of the special anti-robbery squad over trumped-up charges”

The communiqué further read, “Members observed that a King Pharaoh has reincarnated in Kogi State and the Pharaoh is Governor Yahaya Bello. The party therefore called for a halt to the rule of tyranny in Kogi State. The leadership resolved to mobilise against persecution of PDP members in the zone and the state as a whole.”

The meeting appraised governance in Kogi State in the 13 months of Governor Yahaya Bello in the saddle and observed that as a fall out from unending screening exercise, refusal to pay salary and pensions to workers, Kogi people are daily ‘slumping and dying’ from poverty and hunger.

The party however urged workers and the electorate to rise up to their freedom by voting out the All Progressives Congress (APC) from power.

It added that the APC, from all indications, was not prepared for governance and having failed Nigerians “woefully”, the PDP must be prepared to take back its mandate in 2019 at the national and state levels.

The PDP said, “That the unending screening exercise was a veil to divert public attention from the massive looting of over N100b from Kogi treasury accruing from monthly allocations from the federation account, bailout, Paris Club and development refunds by members and agents of the Yahaya Bello government.”