I’m too focused to be distracted ―Bello

Following the criticism against his administration, the Kogi state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Tuesday said he would not be distracted by the barrage of negative comments about him and his government.

The governor said this in Lokoja, the state capital, while receiving a former senator representing Kogi west senatorial district, Senator Smart Adeyemi, at the Government House.

He stated that he was too focused to be distracted by the “noise” of some Abuja based leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who had constituted themselves into “diaspora” politicians criticising away from home.

Bello said the leaders speaking against him were engaging in the act because he refused to be pocketed and allow them to distribute the common wealth of the people of the state.

He explained that the 21 years old state deserved a greater place in the comity of states in the country, saying that he was focused and determined to reposition the state.

Speaking on the decision of Adeyemi to team up with his government, the governor said “having Senator Smart Adeyemi in the New Direction team confirms that we are heading towards the right direction, we won’t go wrong with his experience, knowledge and smartness, we will deliver.

“We shall work together to deliver good governance to the people of the state because we discovered that one major thing that Kogi lacked was good governance, we are on a journey towards a greater destination.”

He however urged the people of Kogi west to be careful when choosing somebody to represent them in the national assembly.

Adeyemi in his speech noted that the APC would not break up as being speculated in some quarters, saying members of the party were more united than in the opposition parties.

He urged the governor not to judge the entire people of Kogi west senatorial district with the behaviour and performance of one person, saying the people of the zone are enlightened and cultured.

The former senator however lauded Bello for the efforts at uprooting the institutionalised corruption in the state, saying with a clean payroll the state would witness more development.

He noted that it would be too early to criticise the administration before its two years in office, adding that such criticism should act as catalyst for development.