I never made divisive statement ― Kogi gov

THE Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Wednesday said he never made any statement attacking or insulting a section of the state.

He said since his assumption of office in 2016 he had been taking steps to unite the major ethnic groups in the state and would never engage in any divisive tendencies.

Bello in a statement he personally signed and made available to Tribune Online said his image with the ‘unforgivably inflammatory’ text posted online never emanated from him.

The governor said: “The said statement is incredibly bigoted, insensitive, insulting, and instigating. I did not make it and I could not have made it because it offends my values and worldview. I am disgusted that anyone would not only think it up but go ahead to ascribe it to me.

“My signature has been uniting our people in and out of government. In my very first appointments after Inauguration, I symbolically appointed three gentlemen, one from each Senatorial District of Kogi State, into key positions. Since then, I have not relented in preaching and practising unity and peace and progress of all Kogites.

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“My time in office has been singularly dedicated to breaking down the walls of ethnicity which divide us and institutionalising equity and equality. Thus, when people cook up lies like this and circulate it publicly without giving thought to the possible dangers to society, I become even more committed to defending our oneness with all the resources at my disposal.

“While it is usually not my practice to respond personally to issues like this when a post is particularly incendiary like this one, it becomes tantamount to soaking the fabric of our society in fuel and trying to put fire to it. In such circumstances, I consider it my duty to step up personally to douse the flames.”

Bello, however, assured the citizens of the state that knew those behind this latest attack, urging the people to “ignore the current failed attempt to disunite us by the agents of destabilisation.”

“Some of them were already standing trial for cybercrimes and fake news before now. At the appropriate time, we will make sure that they face the law for this particular attempt too.”