Bello thanks Nigerians

James Azania, Lokoja

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello has thanked the people of the state and Nigerians at large for identifying with him on the demise of his mother, Hajia Hawau, who passed on Sunday, aged 101.

Receiving members of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), led by the chairman, Momoh-Jimoh Adeiza, who paid him a condolence visit at the Government House, yesterday, in Lokoja, the governor while extolling the virtues of his late mother, said she served as a repertoire of wise counseling, during her lifetime.

Governor Bello called on the media to continue in their role as societal watchdog, and unbiased arbiter between government and the people.

His words: “On behalf of myself my family, my extended family, the Government and the people of Kogi State, I express our profound position and gratitude on the issue of love as you had shown us all this while since my mother left this world to join her creator in the afterlife.

“I sincerely appreciate you. I lack the words to express how appreciative we are. My mother, Hajia Hawau Bello lived a virtuous life. She came to this world in a very wonderful and miraculous way going by the history relayed to me.”

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“She lived very humbly. In our community then, whenever there was any issue which required mediation, however tough or knotty it might be, when my mother was called upon and she usually resolved such issue.

“Everybody regarded and referred to her as a solution provider whenever there was any dispute, and they so much accorded her respect and love for that.

“She brought us up in a very virtuous way; she taught us how to be contented with the little or the much we have, she taught us how to be patient; how to be prayerful; how to respect elders, because she herself gave it to me in a miraculous way. The gap between me and my next sister, is over 10 years, nobody would ever imagine that she would have me any longer, and then, I grew up under her. So, she taught me how to respect others, she taught me to be focused, she taught me to be brave to confront the challenges of this world, she taught me how to be successful in whatever I did, admonishing and encouraging me to live in the fear of the almighty God and to touch all lives.”