By Yabagi Mohammed, Lokoja.
THE Majority Leader of Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Matthew Kolawole, has called for unity of purpose among the various ethnic groups in the state to move the state frontward to another level of development.
Hon Kolawole, who spoke recently at an inaugural lecture and Press Conference organized by Kogi Youths Leadership Forum, frowned at the attitude of some persons within the state, who look at issues and individuals based on their ethnicity, said the new administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello could not succeed without the contribution of other ethnic groups.
He said Kogi belonged to every culture in the state, admonishing that the attitude, where individuals personalize leadership base on the language of the head, called on the youths to chat a new course for the growth of the state.
The lawmaker called on the new generation of leadership to depart from the attitude of old where the youths allow themselves to be used as collateral by politicians who use them as thugs to achieve their political ambitions, stressing that the situation was capable of marring them.
Hon Kolawole, who described the way some politicians reacted to political issues in the state in the run-up to the last week inauguration of the present administration in Kogi State as disturbing, stressed the need for leaders to give good counsel to the new government and the governor.
He said as a legislator, he was ready to work with anyone that is at the helm of the executive arm, saying that it was only through a united front that they can fight the problems that the people of Kogi State face at the moment.
In his words: “There is no way we can move the state forward if we continue to judge each other based on whether the person is Igala, Okun, Ebira, Nupe or Bassa. We have to move away from ethnicity and see the issues confronting the state as common problems.
“As a legislator and Majority Leader of Kogi State House of Assembly, I am ready to work with whoever is the governor of the state. I see no reason why others, especially the youths, should be killing themselves in the name of support for a particular politician,” he concluded.
