Did Kogi Governor Establish the Office of the Immediate Past Governor?

By Oluwaseye Ogunsanya

Claim

A X user A. Ayofe @abdullahayofel made a post which claimed that the newly inaugurated governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo has approved the establishment of the “Office of Immediate Past Governor”

Verdict

False

Full Text

A X user A. Ayofe @abdullahayofel made a post which claimed that the newly inaugurated governor of Kogi State, Usman Ododo has approved the establishment of the “Office of Immediate Past Governor”

According to him, the office will be domiciled in the government house.

Recall that the immediate past governor of the state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, handed over the administration of the state to his successor, Mr Ododo over the weekend having been elected on the platform of APC on November 11, 2023, during the off-cycle governorship election.

Verification

FactCheckAfrica did a Google ascertain the veracity of the claim. We discovered that a number of reputable news platforms have debunked it.

According to The Cable, After taking his oath of office, Ododo named 16 commissioner nominees to be screened by the state house of assembly and also appointed some aides but the news that the “Office of Immediate Past Governor” has been created started making the rounds on Monday.

However, the Kogi government on Tuesday dispelled the rumour, saying it is the handiwork of mischief makers.

“The attention of the Kogi State Government has been drawn to a mischievous report that the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, has approved the establishment of the ‘Office of the Immediate Past Governor’ to be domiciled in the Government House,” the statement reads.

“The fake news should be disregarded as the handiwork of psychotic mischief makers, who have been thrown into confusion by the unprecedented achievements of our former Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, CON, and the realisation that the good people of Kogi State sincerely appreciate this.

“The laughable report was concocted to create disaffection and mislead the public but the authors failed woefully to confuse intelligent Nigerians.

“We thank the media for exercising restraint and detecting, on their own, that the report was fake. We, however, urge the general public to always fact-check before spreading fake news.”

Conclusion

The claim is false, our findings showed that the Kogi State Government have debunked it.