Fanwo
The Director General of Media and Publicity to the Governor of Kogi State, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo has enjoined politicians to eschew politics of bitterness and “mud slinging” as the nation prepares for the 2019 general elections.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja over allegations of “tax diversion” by Kogi Tax Chief, Fanwo said the “unfounded allegations are the handiwork of political opponents who are intimidated by the rising profile of the present administration in the State”.

He said: “I have read about the allegations too on some blogs cooked by people are hiding their identities with the aim of tarnishing the sterling reputation of the present administration in the State.

“One of the first reforms of the Alh Yahaya Bello administration in the State was the Tax Reforms. The administration repositioned the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service and made it autonomous and highly automated. It is almost practically impossible to steal tax money in the State as government has sophisticated gadgets for monitoring revenues into the coffers of government.

“Since the inception of the present administration in the State, the KGIRS has grown our revenue from a paltry 400 million Naira to over a billion naira. We have been able to achieve this through transparency and accountability as well as adopting global best practice in tax administration”.

The image maker questioned the wisdom behind the “intemperate allegations” show the “desperation of the political opponents of the tax chief to pull him down at all costs”.

According to him, the timing of the allegations “smacks of malice and tailored to achieve some goals”.

“Why are the allegations coming out now that the Tax Chief has made his intentions of contesting the Senate known? Where were these allegations before now? It is clear that the issues raised more questions than answers.

“The Kogi State Government wishes to reiterate that it will continue to raise the red flag against corruption and malfeasance in government. Alh. Yahaya Bello has zero tolerance to corruption.

“We also urge other states to copy our inbuilt mechanism for fraud control to improve accountability and transparency in governance. There was no fraud in the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service and such frauds are not even possible with our self-check systems.

“Politicians should play the game with decorum and resist the temptation of scoring political points through maligning the integrity of individuals or government”.