On Tuesday, shortly after the Kogi State House of Assembly approved the nomination of a former Deputy Speaker of the House of assembly, Simeon Achuba, as the state’s deputy governor, he was sworn-in at the banquet hall of the Government House, The Scoop reports.
The newly sworn in All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Yahaya Bello barred journalists from witnessing the inauguration of his deputy. The political blog notes, “If this is a sign of things to come, then the people of Kogi may need to gear up for a very secretive and opaque government in the coming years.”
Journalists were reported to have rushed from State House of Assembly, where the deputy governor was screened to the government house to witness the swearing-in of the Achuba. Only for them to be denied access into the hall by security operatives who said they were acting on instruction not to allow the press into the venue.
According to the stern security operatives of the governor, the event was “not a public event”.
Earlier that day the Kogi State Assembly had simply asked Achuba to “take a boy and go’ in what may have been a sham screening by the APC dominated House. The speaker, Momoh-Jimoh Lawal read the letter sent to the Assembly by Governor Bello and after that submissions from members that Achuba being a former member of the Kogi House of Assembly need not be subjected to “rigorous screening”
Achuba, 51, was a member of the Assembly between 1999 and 2007, serving as deputy speaker between 2003 and 2007. He is also the the immediate past chairman of the Kogi State Environmental Protection Board.
