Kogi State on Wednesday made another unusual history as its fourth democratically elected governor, Yahaya Bello, was sworn in without a deputy.
Yahaya Bello
The man nominated by the All Progressives Congress to be Mr. Bello’s deputy, James Faleke, made real his threat not to present himself for swearing in with the governor.
He was conspicuously absent at Wednesday’s ceremony, and no replacement was announced at the event.
The legal implication of that arrangement remained unclear Wednesday.
It is the first time in Nigeria’s political history that an elected governor would be inaugurated without a deputy.
The North-Central state had made another history late last year when a leading governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, died before its governorship election is concluded, throwing the state into what appeared a constitutional logjam.
On Wednesday, Mr. Bello was inaugurated amid pomp and ceremony by the Chief Judge of the state, Nasir Ajana, who administered the oath of office and that of allegiance on him.
Mr. Bello was picked by the All Progressives Congress to replace its late candidate, Mr. Audu.
Mr. Faleke objected to the party’s decision and approached the election tribunal in the state asking it to declare him governor-elect.
He contended that the election had been won and lost before Mr. Audu died and that he (Faleke) should have been pronounced governor-elect.
Mr. Faleke has repeatedly claimed that he was not consulted or taken into confidence by anyone regarding the choice of Mr. Bello as Mr. Audu’s replacement.
He was also quoted in various reports as expressing suspicion that the party was planning to announce his replacement on the grounds that he absconded from Wednesday’s inauguration.
Those attending Wednesday’s inauguration include the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun as well as the governor of Nasarawa state and the Minister of Communication Technology, Adebayo Shittu.
The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, was represented by Kabir Gaya, a senator and former governor of Kano.
The Senator representing Kogi East, Dino Melaye, who gave the welcome address, said Wednesday’s inauguration was historic because “a minority is now the governor of Kogi state”.
He pledged that Mr. Bello would not disappoint the people of the state and called on all aggrieved people to unite and cooperate with the new governor for the sake of Kogi state.
The All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been declared the winner of the Kogi Government election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
APC polled 247,752 votes to defeat PDP who polled 204,877 votes, according to INEC report.
Wada, the PDP candidate lost in his own Local government area in the supplementary poll.
THE crisis created by the demise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Kogi State’s governorship election, Prince Abubakar Audu, seems to be growing fast.
James Faleke
Audu’s running mate in the November 21 election, James Abiodun Faleke, has declined to pair with Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who has been named the party’s candidate for the supplementary election on Saturday, insisting that he should be declared governor-elect on the APC platform.
The APC looked set to win the election but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared it inconclusive, following the inability of some registered voters to vote in 91 units.
In a letter to APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, Faleke dissociated himself from the supplementary poll, which he insisted was unnecessary since the November 21 governorship election produced the candidates of the APC as clear winners.
He said rather than substitute its late standard bearer at the governorship election for the purpose of a supplementary election, the party ought to have urged the electoral umpire to declare it the winner of the poll since the expected results from the scheduled election would be inconsequential.
In the 91 units, there are 49,000 registered would-be voters. Of the lot, only 25,000 have voter cards. The APC is leading by 41,000 votes.
“Please take this letter as confirmation to dissociate myself from the unusual and strange supplementary nomination of my humble self as running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello, this also serves as a notice of rejection of the purported and illegal nomination of myself as running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello,” Faleke wrote in the letter to Odigie-Oyegun.
He said it would amount to a betrayal of trust and injustice on the part of the party to pick Bello who, according to him, joined forces with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the APC during the election, as the inheritor of all the late Audu and himself put into the campaigns to ensure victory for the APC.
Besides, Faleke faulted the APC for attempting to shave his head behind him, claiming that no one consulted him before his name was forwarded as running mate to Bello.
The letter reads: “I wish to put it on record that I was neither consulted by anybody before my name was submitted as running mate to a man who has since the conduct of primaries, abandoned the party, took the party to court, worked for the PDP, thereby causing our party to lose his polling unit 80 votes to his ally party PDPs 116, repeating same feat at the Ward level with APC scoring 1,146 to PDP’s 2,058.
“While it is true that the said Alhaji Yahaya Bello participated in our party primaries, its trite that party primaries are conducted to produce a candidate and once a candidate is produced, the congress, being an ad-hoc tool for that purpose, should automatically extinguish.
“It is clear from this injustice, that our party is on the path of rewarding disloyalty and discourage loyalty through this act of impunity for which we all fought the PDP.
“It may also interest you Mr. Chairman Sir, that the said Yahaya Bello, since the conduct of the primaries, had been aloof from party activities as it is on record that he did not attend a single meeting or campaign rally of the party.
“Mr. Chairman Sir, I am sure that it is neither in your interest, nor that of the party in particular and the public in general to lord an illegality on the people of Kogi State.
“Please, take note that I am not interested in surrendering the mandate the people of Kogi State bestowed on the Audu/Faleke joint ticket at the November 21 poll as I remain the governor-elect.
“I believe in the leadership of our great party to resolve this in the shortest possible time, failure upon which I shall be forced to seek redress in the court of law.”
In his latest letter, Faleke restated his position as contained in two letters last Thursday from his cousel, Chief Wole Olanipekun to the APC national chairman and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu.
In all the letters, Faleke mainted that the idea of a supplementary election should not arise because the APC had already won the governorship slot by polling 240, 867 to beat Governor Idris Wada of the PDP who polled 199, 514.
He said there was no truth in the belief that the outstanding votes could sway the poll’s results, adding that only 25,000 of the 49, 353 registered voters from 91 units from 18 council areas where the supplementary election would take place have their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), pointing out that the PDP would still be trailing the APC even if it garners all the outstanding votes.
Faleke’s letter, titled: “Re:My purported nomination as deputy governor,” reads: “Information at my disposal from the National Secretary of our party, the All Progressives Congress and my telephone conversation with your good self, confirmed to me that the party had issued INEC form and submitted my name as running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello in the forthcoming unusual and strange supplementary election scheduled for 5th December, 2015, covering 91 polling units in Kogi State to elect a “supplementary governor”.
“Mr. Chairman, you may recall that an election was conducted on the 21st November 2015, in which I was running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu: I therefore remain fully committed to that joint ticket which received the blessings of the party leadership, including your good self, evident from your attendance at the campaign rallies to ensure total victory for your great party through which the people of Kogi State massively and overwhelmingly voted for us.
“Following the demise of my principal after the announcement of results from the polling units, wards, local government areas and the state, our party had highest number of votes of 240, 867 against PDP’s 199, 514, thus creating a difference of 41, 353 votes between the two leading parties. On the strength of this, I hereby state clearly that I remain the governor-elect of Kogi State on the platform of our great party.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has given its Kogi State governorship nomination form to its new candidate, Mr. Yahaya Bello, to fill.
The development may have foreclosed the consideration of any other candidate as the party’s standard bearer.
Bello filled the form, which was signed by a Commissioner of Oath. It was returned to the APC National Secretariat.
It was learnt that the form was attached to the letter of nomination, which the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, sent to INEC on Friday.
The party retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as running mate – a position Faleke rejected, insisting on the mandate the people gave the late Abubakar Audu/Faleke ticket.
A top officer of the party said: “We are in receipt of many petitions but it is already late for anybody because we have nominated Yahaya Bello as the party’s substitute for Prince Abubakar Audu.
“Of course, we have automatically retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as our deputy governorship candidate.
“As a matter of fact, we gave the nomination form to Bello to fill on Friday and we have duly submitted all relevant documents to INEC.
“You can direct further enquiries to INEC and Bello, who is now our candidate.”
It was gathered that APC rushed to give the form to Bello, despite the fact that it has up till December 1, to pre-empt legal action especially court injunction.
A member of the NWC said: “We hastily concluded the nomination process to stave off any court injunction which may hinder the party’s chances for the supplementary poll on December 5.
“We took advantage of Friday to seal the process because any of the aggrieved parties could rush to court before Tuesday and allow the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to emerge winner of the Kogi Governorship Election on a platter of gold.
“If we do not check the dirty war over the substitution of our candidate, APC may be the ultimate loser.”
When contacted, a media aide to Bello said: “It is true that our principal has filled the governorship nomination form as presented to him by APC and we are aware that the form has been submitted.”
A source in INEC also confirmed the submission of the form. “Yes, it has been submitted,” he said pleading not to be quoted.
