By Ken Afor
It is unclear why the outgoing Kogi State’s Governor Yahaya Bello has ordered the freezing of all the state and local governments’ accounts with immediate effect with just two months before leaving office.
In a statement by the Commissioner for Finance, Asiwaju Asiru Idris, on Thursday in Lokoja, the state capital, no form of financial transaction should be carried from the state government’s account to individuals till further notice.
The statement read in part: “No imprest or any form of payment should be made to anyone from Government Account henceforth.
“Standing Orders and Investment Instructions are hereby cancelled forthwith.
”All Kogi State and Local Government Accounts are hereby FROZEN with effect from today, Thursday 22nd November 2003.”
While the reason for the directive is yet unknown, Governor Bello is due to hand over power to his preferred successor, Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on January 27, 2024 who was declared winner of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State.
Ododo polled 446, 237 votes to beat his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who polled 259,052 votes. While Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), scored 46,362 votes.
