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First, the speaker of Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Matthew Kolawole, who has used every occasion to eulogize the person of Governor Yahaya Bello goes missing from the list of dignitaries who welcomed Governor Yahaya Bello back to the state after a long time absence to pursue his unsuccessful presidential ambition.
Then on Monday, during an all – important state function where the Governor swore in a new acting Chief Judge for the State, only the recently, albeit, controversially elected Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rabiu Isiaka, was present to represent the State legislature on the dignitaries table.
The question that arose therefore was, ‘Where is Matthew Kolawole, the head of the State legislature who has turned the supposedly independent arm of government into an extension of the executive by being a praise singer on every given opportunity?’
Checks by TheNewsGuru (TNG) reveals that the speaker is currently battling for his political survival. He was in Abuja trying to lobby the member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, James Abiodun Faleke and other stakeholders whose listening ears he still has, to assist in restoring his House of Reps ticket which he won during the last primaries held in Kabba.
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But his name has gone missing in the list released by INEC for next year’s election and all fingers are pointing to the Governor as being behind the development as Kolawole was accused of substituting the Kogi West delegates list, from where it is suspected that those that did not vote the Governor at the primaries emerged from.
Faleke, the 2015 Kogi APC deputy governorship candidate who lost out in his ambition of becoming the State Governor upon the unfortunate demise of the governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, hails from Ekinrin – Adde in Okun – Yoruba speaking part of Kogi State and is seen to have manouvered the process in collaboration with Matthew Kolawole who allegedly substituted the list presented during the APC primaries.
Governor Bello ended up scoring 47 votes out of the 63 delegates picked from the state.
The Kogi Assembly Speaker hopes to be the APC candidate for 2023 general elections into the House of Representatives for Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency.
According to sources, as far as Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency is concerned, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) does not have a candidate which has dashed the hope of the party in clinching the seat from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has held the position since 1999.
Prince Kolawole, newsmen in Abuja also learnt, has been running helter-skelter among the APC and the powers that be to save him.
Our source also added the Prince Kolawole might be charged to court over allegations of forgery.
It could be recalled that the Senator representing Kogi West, Smart Adeyemi had sacked his Senior Legislative Aide, Chief Cornelius Olowo over allegations of misconduct and unruly behaviour as well as forgery of list of delegates for the primary election.
Olowo was said to be the arrow head in the manipulation of delegates list in the primary election that produced the Speaker as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
TNG reports that Governor Yahaya Bello had made it clear that those who think they could misbehave (politically) towards him because he did not win the APC Presidential Ticket should have a rethink as he would (deal with them) till the last minutes of his tenure.
Many analysts and Kogi political watchers are taking the development serious as Governor Bello had demonstrated his resolve not to take anything to chance in his determination to remain politically relevant even after he had finished serving as Governor.
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