A sociopolitical pressure group, Movement for the Emancipation of Kogi State, MEKSTA has accused Governor Usman Ododo of absenteesm from the state and recently diverting a whopping N3 Billion public fund to his predecessor, Alhaji Yahaya Adeiza Bello. The money was to enable the former governor to settle in his new wife and second in less than a year.
The accusation was made in a statement signed by stakeholders, one each from the state’s nine federal constituencies. The group claimed that despite the N200 billion suit hanging on his neck in various courts across the country and probing his days in government, the embattled ex-governor has continued to pillage Kogi resources through the current governor.
“Bello, who is reportedly on a monthly subvention of N2.5Billion from Kogi State coffers, allegedly directed Ododo fortnight ago, to immediately make available the sum of N3Billion for “urgent needs.” The request, sources say, is to enable Bello settle in the newest addition to his harem of wives, who he married just before recently embarking on the lesser hajj preceding the Ramadan fast. The newest wife is different from Hiqma, who Bello married as his fourth July 18, 2025. Bello is said to have divorced his oldest wife and former first lady, Amina Oyiza Bello, 48, an attorney, and a second wife to enable him take the newest and stay within the allowable maximum of four as prescribed by his faith.
The group alleged that Barrister Oyiza Bello is reported to have filed a suit challenging her displacement by another attorney who Bello was said to have met in court during one of his several appearances at the temple of justice. In addition, the group disclosed further that Ododo may have been funding his predecessor’s luxuriant lifestyle and that last May, Ododo gifted Bello a *Rezvani Vengeance* SUV, valued at the time at N1.2Billion, (about $800,000).
“While it is not the responsibility of MEKSTA to oversee the private affairs of the on-trail Yahaya Bello, we are deeply concerned about the wholesale conversion of the resources of Kogi State to a private estate. Whereas Bello rode on the sentiment of a businessman who owned a successful transport company ahead of his contest for the Kogi State governorship in 2015, it is crystal clear now that that posturing was just a hoax to deceive the unsuspecting people of the state. Bello, through his disposition to public resources in and out of office, has shown himself a light-fingered impostor whose principal target was control of state funds to feed his obtuse and grandiose lifestyle.
“This is just as Ododo continues to function as an “offshore, visiting Governor,” who along with his commissioners and aides, are resident in the nation’s capital, Abuja, visiting the state capital, Lokoja, for official photo ops, a template copied from his principal. This is just as bandits, terrorists and kidnappers continue to terrorise Kogi State. This is just as underdevelopment, poverty, and hopelessness continue to fester across the state…
“Let it be very clear to both Bello and Ododo that as the Holy Bible says in Luke 8:17, “Nothing is hidden under the sun which will not eventually be revealed and brought to light.” Former Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State, one of the untouchables of the President Muhammadu Buhari dispensation, has spent two nights in the detention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), for the misapplication of N432Billion, under his watch. History is patient. Time is the greatest enemy of the presumptuous. Bello and Ododo will soon meet their comeuppance.”
The statement was signed by Hon Obafemi Medaiyese (Yagba Federal Constituency constituency); Comrade Joseph Mebatonije (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency); Alhaji Yusuf Kpareke (Lokoja/Kotonkarfe Federal Constituency); Mallam Jimoh Ozovehe (Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency); Dr Nurudeen Adaviriku (Okene/Ogori-Magongo); Alhaji Isiaka Momoh (Ajaokuta Federal Constituency); Chief Ojonimi Adegbe (Idah/Igalamela-Odolu/Ofu/Ibaji Federal Constituency); Pastor Mark Onucheyo (Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency); and Bishop Husseini Saidu (Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro Federal Constituency.
