Politics
Updated: October 11, 2020

Ondo Election: Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello Responds To Claims He Brought Thugs To Sunshine State

By Ridwan Yusuf
October 11, 2020
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The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello has denied bringing thugs to the South-West for Saturday’s Ondo Election.

AllNews understands that the People's Democratic Party (PDP) had last week disseminated propagandous messages claiming that Bello imported thugs into Ondo state.

#EyiGboluga2020-Breaking News! Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has imported thugs into Ondo state. The thugs are masquerading as security officers with fake @PoliceNG uniforms. They are residing in Mydas Hotel, Owo. Some of them are with Gov. Bello in St Jacob’s Hotel, Alagbaka pic.twitter.com/LYONE5CMq5
— Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) October 7, 2020

According to the PDP, "the thugs are masquerading as security officers with fake uniforms.

"They are residing in Mydas Hotel, Owo.

"Some of them are with Gov. Bello in St Jacob’s Hotel, Alagbaka."

But reacting to the allegation, Onogwu Muhammed, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Bello said on Saturday, “It is not true. It can never be true.

"It is important to set the record straight and make it abundantly clear that the said statement is fake, unfounded, spurious, political motivated and a mere figment of the writer’s imagination aimed at tarnishing the good image of the governor and by extension, the good people of Kogi State.

“It is also important to emphasise that His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, who is a true democrat and firm believer in free and fair elections, harbours no thug and neither did he import any thug or thugs to Ondo State to rig or compromise the outcome of the forthcoming governorship election.

“As a democrat who firmly believes in the sanctity of the ballot and has demonstrated that by getting re-elected in a free and fair election, he should not be dragged into public opprobrium through such a satanic post and spurious allegations.”

The governor said rather than focusing on the election as expected of democrats, the PDP was spreading alleged misinformation.

He, therefore, urged members of the public to disregard the said statement by the PDP National Campaign Committee for Ondo 2020 gubernatorial election.

Recall AllNews had earlier reported that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is currently leading as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announces the Ondo Election Result.

Akeredolu, who is seeking a second term in office, is leading his main challenger, Eyitayo Jegede of the PDP with over 81,000 votes.

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