Group asks Buhari to save Kogi from 'looming anarchy'

The group expressed concerns over the successful conduct of the forthcoming Kogi state governorship election.

President Mohammed Buhari

Youth Alliance, a youth group in Kogi, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to save the state from "impunity and looming anarchy."

The group said tension is being stoked ahead of state's governorship election scheduled for November 16, 2019.

In a statement on Thursday, Ade Onemola, Idowu Ipinmisho and Arome Idachaba, on behalf of the group in the three senatorial zones, it noted the Kogi people's suffering had gotten to an alarming level.

The group alleged that some people were being armed to cause mayhem in the state.

They accused Governor Yahaya Bello of impoverishing Kogi state. An allegation the governor has repeatedly denied.

"We also understand that he boasts of removing the DG of PDP’s governorship campaign, Honourable Teejay Yusuf, a popular grassroots politician who is much loved by a clear majority of Okun people of Kogi state from the House of Representatives through the same tactic," the statement said.

“While no invitation had ever been sent for President Buhari to come and commission any project in Kogi state during Governor Yahaya Bello’s tenure, suffering has reached its worst extent and citizens are wondering what mystery has been consuming billions of statutory allocations.  

“On February 23, a national newspaper, authoritatively reported that the stage is being set for anarchy by some top people in Kogi state who have been arming thugs and other miscreants with illegal firearms and using money to induce people towards compromising electoral integrity.

"The experience of Friday February 15, 2019, when hooded thugs encircled the GRA, Lokoja home of former Governor Ibrahim Idris, while he was hosting the cream of the leadership of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, in the state, is very instructive; a phone call from Gen Tunde Ogbeha to the Commander, Command Army Records, Lokoja, saved the day and it was reported that the masked hoodlums casually strolled into Government House, Lokoja, through the rear access gate," the group alleged.