After almost eight months of crisis, members of the two warring factions in the Kogi State House of Assembly on Thursday finally agreed to work for peace.
The decision to reconcile was arrived at during a meeting held by the two factions at the Governor’s Lodge in Lokoja.
The meeting lasted over four hours.
The reconciliation process, which was facilitated by an 11-member body, the Kogi State House of Assembly Peace Committee, had as leader Oladele Nihi.
Present at the peace meeting held behind closed doors were Governor Yahaya Bello; his deputy, Simon Achuba; and the Secretary to the State Government, Folashade Ayoade.
The factional Speakers, Hon. Momoh Jimoh-Lawal and Hon. Ahmed Imam Umar, led the G-15 and G-5 legislators to the meeting.
Bello, who was the first to come out of the meeting, said there was no crisis in the Assembly, adding that it was a “brotherly disagreement”.
Bello explained that the disagreement had been resolved, adding that there was no longer any division.
A factional Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Mathew Kolawole, told newsmen that the two groups agreed on reconciliation.
Kolawole said they had agreed on a template for further discussion.
Kolawole, who belongs to the G-15 group loyal to Jimoh-Lawal, said the reconciliation meeting would continue on Friday.
Also speaking, a member of the House, Hon. Hassan Bewa, representing Dekina State Constituency, confirmed that he and his colleagues had agreed to bury the hatchet to allow the state move forward.
Two members of the House, including Hon. Friday Makama-Sani, were absent.
Nihi, the leader of the of the peace committee, expressed happiness that the two factions agreed to work together.
He said members of his committee were mostly youths committed to the growth and development of the state.
The crisis in the Assembly had attracted the intervention of the House of Representatives and it took over its affairs in April.
The crisis broke out following the action of five members of the House who in February purportedly impeached Hon. Jimoh-Lawal and other principal officers of the House.
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