Ex-naval chief berates Kogi govt over self praise on salary

A former chief of naval staff, Admiral Jibrin Usman, has berated the Kogi state government resorting to self-praise after paying five months salary arrears to workers.

He described the action as the most ignoble and morally reprehensible act any government could undertake.

Speaking to journalists during Kogi Peace Concert held in Anyigba, Dekina local government area of the state, Usman, who is also a frontline governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), lamented that governance had been reduced to such deplorable level.

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He said it was shameful for agents of the government to take to the streets in jubilation over payment of salary to workers that Governor Bello’s counterpart in Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, publicly declared was never an achievement to receive praise for.

Usman questioned the rationale behind such self-praise in spite of glaring statistics indicating a greater proportion of the arrears still standing uncleared.

According to him,  the non-payment of salary that had become the official licence of Bello administration was a deliberate creation of his maladministration but never an accidental occurrence.

He sympathised with the state civil servants and local council workers for their plight and encouraged them to keep faith with the resolve that God would soon come to their rescue.

Jibrin also called on the people to unite themselves against tyranny and vote out the insensitive government of Yahaya Bello.

He promised to stand by his commitment to their welfare if voted into power and reverse the dehumanising policy of this government that has reduced their worth in life.

The APC chieftain, therefore, said any government that fails to make the welfare of its citizens a top priority ceases to be called a government, but an organised scam.