Kogiflame
Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Prince Matthew Kolawole is hosting the Nigeria Conference of Speakers of State Legislature in Lokoja, Kogi State Capital.
In his opening address during a courtesy call on Governor Yahaya Bello at the Govt House yesterday, Prince Kolawole said the purpose of their presence in Lokoja was to hold their regular extraordinary meeting for the first time in Lokoja and that it was just happening since the creation of Kogi State in 1991 and to honour him as one of them because of his daughter’s wedding this weekend.
They were having their extraordinary meeting where they would address many issues that affect them as a body with the main focus being financial autonomy for the legislature and other things that affect the country.
The Kogi Assembly Speaker noted that the relationship between the legislature and the executive has been very smooth in the state because of the pragmatic and exemplary leadership style of Governor Yahaya Bello, a synergy that he stressed, has been to the benefit of the state.
Prince Kolawole added that it was because of the vision that he has seen in the government of Alhaji Yahaya Bello has informed his decision to lead his colleagues to canvass support for the Governor to become the President of Nigeria in 2023.
The Speaker who is also the National Treasurer of the Conference stated Governor Bello is a very unique person who is warm and forgiving to his political rivals in the discharge of his duty, adding he could attest to that because of the way their relationship began when Bello was first elected in 2016.
He therefore described the Governor as his political godfather to whom he had learnt many positive political attributes to move Kogi forward.
In his own address, the chairman Conference of Speakers of Houses of Assembly in Nigeria, Hon Abubakar Suleiman who is also the Speaker of Bauchi State stressed that they were in Kogi to hold their meeting anf celebrate with their colleague, Hon Kolawole.
He said financial autonomy was going to take the from burner in their Sunday Conference because of the importance that it has in the continued discharge of their responsibilities as major components of democracy.
He thanked Governor Yahaya Bello for the relationship between the legislature and the executive as there cannot be smooth operations in governance if there is no understanding and mutual relationship.
“It is not disputing the fact that if there is no close working relationship between the two arms of government, there cannot be development and democracy would suffer,” he stressed.
He further commended the leadership style of the Governor and his giant strides in the area of infrastructure development in the state.
