Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello reacts to his alleged travel restriction by Presidency

The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has described the reports which alleged that he was restrained from travelling abroad as calumnious, stating that he never intended to travel, neither was he stopped by anybody.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kingsley Fanwo in a statement on Wednesday, debunked the report, while describing it as sponsored renegades of the opposition.

"The architects came up with so many versions of the story. To some dreamers, Buhari stopped the Governor. To some mischief-brewers, security agencies barred the Governor from travelling. And to the last set of abridged thinkers, Sen. Dino Melaye physically went to the airport to stop the Governor.

"To set the record straight, nobody stopped the Governor from travelling abroad. Nobody would have anyway, because he reserves such right to travel even as salary payments have been ongoing. Only a few MDAs who have not complied with the wage bill integrity are yet to be paid and they are few," he said.

Fanwo added that the mission of the purportedly sponsored report was to smear the personality of the Governor and cause a distraction in a time where civil servants have refused to embark on strike.

"Governor Yahaya Bello understands that both delivery and distraction are competing for his attention. Yielding to distraction will surely stifle delivery," he said.