GOV Bello swears-in newly elected LG chairmen in Kogi

From Ahmad Ibrahim, Lokoja

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has sworn in the newly elected local government chairmen and all women vice chairmen in the state, urging them to shun indolent and be accountable to the people.
At a colourful ceremony held at the Lokoja mini stadium yesterday, governor Bello said efforts must be intensified by the council chairmen to diligently serve their people, whom he pointed out, are yearning for good governance at the grassroots level.
He enjoined them, as chief security officers of their various local governments, to take charge and fight criminality headlong, emphasizing the need for them to deal decisively with those trouble makers.
The governor further added that there is no room for criminal elements in the state, as his government know how to handle things, insisting that hoodlums, thugs and other criminal minds can only operate outside the state.
In her goodwill message at the occasion, the secretary to the state government, Dr. Folashade Ayoade Arike commended the bold initiative of governor Bello in carrying the women along in the scheme of things, describing the emergence of women in each of the local government areas of the state, in the just concluded council polls as first of its kind in the country.
While assuring the governor of the total support of women in the implementation of government programmes and policies, Dr. Arike promised that all the women elected in the 21 local government areas would not betray the confidence reposed in them.
Also in a remark, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdullahi Bello averred that the state is gradually becoming a one party state, due to the sterling performance of the present administration in the last five years in the saddle.
He explained that the style of leadership of governor Bello has endeared him to the larger percentage of the people of the state, insisting that those in the opposition party are changing base because the APC led administration is firmly rooted to the ground.