Senators elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Kogi State, yesterday said the former governor of the state; Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, lied over claims that he single-handedly installed all federal lawmakers currently serving in the National Assembly.
The lawmakers also threatened to compound the woes of the ex-governor by opening up to the anti-graft agencies on his alleged recklessness, maladministration and mis-appropriation that pervaded his nine year tenure as governor.
The former governor had claimed in an interview in one of the national dailies (not Leadership) on March 30 that he was responsible for the emergence of the lawmakers from the state in the National Assembly.
But the lawmakers have debunked his claim. Reacting to the ex-governor’s claim in Abuja yesterday, Senator Smart Adeyemi, who was accompanied by Senator Nurudeen Abatemi –Usman, told journalists that it was unacceptable for Idris to claim that he sponsored their sucessful elections.
He said, “For those of us who went through the rigours of the election, we take strong objection to that statement by Alhaji Idris. What he said is not true, he erred; to put it bluntly, he lied. They used the money of the state to challenge us and to confront me but thank God for the people, despite the fact that my election was annulled twice I won. How come the three senators in the national Assembly are not his candidates?
“We kept quiet after he left office leaving the issue on how the state was run during his tenure. We want sleeping dogs to lie but if he wants to fight, we are very formidable to fight him.”