Former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Simon Achuba, has leveled serious allegations against his ex-boss, former Governor Yahaya Bello, implicating him in the ongoing ineptitude surrounding the Ajaokuta Steel Company.
During an appearance on AriseNews’ The Morning Show program, Achuba, who served as Deputy Governor from 2016 to 2019 under Bello’s administration, claimed that there exists a connection between the establishment of Ajaokuta Kogi Nigeria Limited by Yahaya Bello in 2017 and the recent efforts by some traditional rulers in Kogi Central to obstruct the probe of Ajaokuta Steel Company and National Iron Ore Mining Company.
According to Achuba, “Somebody who knows about the $496 million dollars paid by the federal government in September 2022 is using the traditional rulers to stop the truth from being unveiled”.
He continued; “Ajaokuta steel rolling mill is very viable, it’s not in the hinterland, Ajaokuta is by the Niger which is the biggest river in Nigeria. Transportation of its parts and all that is needed to and fro Ajaokuta is viable.
“There are rail lines connected to Ajaokuta rolling mill, there’s nothing that makes it not viable. It’s the human behaviour and unwillingness of the actors and saboteurs, particularly in Kogi that has made Ajaokuta not work.
“The motion moved by Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan to probe Ajaokuta steel was in the right direction, and it’s what is needed to unveil the hidden things in Ajaokuta”.
“I want to tell Nigerians, that in 2017, a memo came to the state executive council, on that memo was Ajaokuta Kogi Nigeria Ltd, a lot of members of the executive council were in support of giving Ajaokuta steel company to the Ajaokuta Kogi Nigeria Ltd to manage. I made two observations, I asked who sponsored the memo, and also asked what was the relationship between Ajaokuta Kogi Nigeria Ltd and Kogi State government and how the memo found its way to the exco. Within minutes, the memo disappeared.
“It was after that Natasha went to the Senate to expose all that was happening in Kogi State. The Kogi State Governor then registered this company to do business and brought in Kogi State as a cover-up. Since then Ajaokuta has not been able to move forward,” he added.
He further added; “The Ajaokuta Kogi Nigeria Ltd is not for Kogi State, it’s a personal property I suspect of Yahaya Bello. As at today, the Directors of this company are not Kogites, one of them is from Imo, Ikechukwu Onochie, and the other one is from Benue State, Emmanuel Anchaver. These are the directors of Kogi Ajaokuta Nigeria Ltd and all that Bello has been doing which I suspect is to ensure that Ajaokuta and its management are handed over to him and if that happens this country should know that is the end of Ajaokuta Steel Company”.
When asked if he made the allegations because he has an axe to grind with Yahaya Bello, Achuba said he believes the country should develop and those saddled with responsibility should act responsibly in the interest of the people of Nigeria and the people they govern.
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“How can a sitting Governor bring up a company and lure the state to come and back it as if it’s a state company meanwhile, it’s your personal enterprise?
“There’s a letter that I posted to you, that letter was written by SSG after the memo was withdrawn, he wrote to CAC that the company was of Kogi State after it was withdrawn and was not approved by the exco. It’s that the right thing to do? It means there are motives behind it.
“Ajaokuta had problems before Yahaya Bello’s government that is true but the president then, Muhammadu Buhari came with great intention to get Ajaokuta revived, but what Bello brought in weakened that intention and that is exactly what is currently going on. Bello is all out to make sure that he runs Ajaokuta and he has been doing all that he can so that Ajaokuta does not work if not how will a group of traditional rulers
wrote a letter to the Senate not to probe the $496 million that was released for the Ajaokuta settlement.
“It means certainly they know more than we know, the Yahaya Bello’s factor which I need to emphasise more is this, Yahaya Bello was the one who submitted the name of the current Minister of Steel. That Minister is someone who has a great capacity to make Ajaokuta work, but with Yahaya Bello behind him, I doubt if much can be achieved.
“This is why I am calling on the Senate to go into the probe of the $496 million settlement to be sure of who and who got that money, was it a proceed of judgment or settlement out of court, who are the beneficiaries? Who and who benefitted from the money and why would some traditional rulers call to stop the probe for another money to be released and it would be embezzled again? Is that how to run a nation?
“I have sent the details of the CAC letter of Kogi Ajaokuta Nigeria Ltd to you written by the SSG. Why would the SSG of a state write a letter on behalf of private company to CAC? This is where the state comes in illegally because it’s a private company,” he added.
