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Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
As the second term administration of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is being inaugurated on Monday, the Igbo community in the state has appealed to the governor to consider its members for inclusion in his new cabinet.
In a press statement signed by the President-General of Igbo community association in central senatorial district of the state, Chief Joseph Anikwe, the people said they had played prominent roles in ensuring that the re-election of Governor Bello was possible
Chief Anikwe who stressed that the governor had magnanimously promised during his campaigns to run an inclusive government, urged him to carry the Igbo people along “as they have contributed meaningfully to the economic and infrastructural developments of state.”
While saying the Igbo community members were not carried along in the first tenure, he urged the governor to emulate his predecessors in office especially the Ibrahim Idris and Capt Idris Wada-led administrations whom they said variously appointed Igbo members as special advisers and senior special assistants respectively.
The statement reads in part: “As a peace-loving and development-conscious association which believes in the overall development of the state and the new direction policy of Governor Bello, we mobilized our members who followed him around the state during the campaigns and we also came out en masse to vote for him in the November 16 governorship election.
“We, therefore, believe that in his second tenure, we have roles we can play effectively especially in the areas of trade and commerce or in the areas of establishment of small-scale businesses to reduce the unemployment among the youths and women in the state,” the statement added
While praying for the spirit of wisdom and understanding for the governor to enable him pilot the affairs of the state, Chief Anikwe also advised him to look inward and improve on areas which he did not do well in the first tenure.
The Igbo leader who commended the governor for his new policy of prompt payment of salaries and pension to the workers, also gave him kudos in the area of security of lives and property in the state and urged him to ensure that crime rate in the state was reduced to the barest minimum.
The governor was also advised to concentrate more efforts in the reconstruction of dilapidated roads in the state and to embark on legacy projects that will make the people of the state to remember him even long after his tenure.
The statement said the Igbo people in the state were ready more than ever before, to cooperate with the governor to enable him to succeed in his second term.
