Running mate to All Progressives Congress, APC, gubernatorial candidate in the November 21 election in Kogi State, James Faleke yesterday said he would go to court to reclaim the mandate given to the late Prince Abubakar Audu.
Faleke also rejected his nomination as the running mate to Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who has been picked as the party’s gubernatorial candidate for the December 5 supplementary election.
This was even as a free for all ensued between Faleke and Bello’s supporters at the Abuja national secretariat of the party yesterday.
After a two hours meeting in Abuja, the leadership of the party affirmed its resolution to present Bello as replacement for Audu. Already, Bello’s name and that of Faleke have been sent to INEC.
However, Faleke has distanced himself from the party’s decision, while insisting that he remains the candidate as well as the governor elect.
Faleke, who walked out of the meeting, told reporters that the party had already taken decision on who it wants to field in the supplementary election and was only invited to be informed.
He said: “The issue of Kogi State was paramount in the mind of our national leaders, and especially the national chairman of our party that he wanted a solution to it.
“However, we met for about two hours as you have observed and of course we discovered that the meeting that we were invited for was just a mere briefing.
“Rather than it being where we could have deliberated and solve the quagmire we find ourselves in, we were only briefed about the position of the party.
“The party told us that they have nominated Alhaji Yahaya Bello and of course we made it clear as the political family of Prince Abubakar Audu, we told them that it is not acceptable and we are not going with it.
“And I personally observed that my name has been submitted to INEC as deputy governorship candidate to pair with Alhaji Yahaya Bello and I told the national chairman clearly, in clear words that Mr. chairman, I have submitted a letter this morning distancing myself from that decision that on no ground will I want to be associated with the decision of the party to pair me with Alhaji Yahaya Bello because I am already governor elect.
“For us as a family; Kogi State political family, we are not taking part in that election, my name cannot be submitted because I was not even consulted in the first instance. The governor elect cannot yet become another deputy governorship candidate.
“I want to make it very clear that Alhaji Yahaya Bello did not take part in all our campaign process and we are only contesting election in 91 polling units out 2,548 polling units and we have made it very clear that if they go ahead to conduct election because I have pulled out, that election would be challenged in the court of law, it will be null and void.
“We won’t be addressing you today if the party had towed the path of honour and challenge INEC. But, Mr. Chairman told us directly right away without considering it twice that the party will not go to court and since the party is not going to court we have taken it upon ourselves as our right to defend ourselves in court and we are challenging the decision.”
As the APC leaders were about to meet, the national secretariat of the party was invaded by supporters of both Faleke and Bello, who were armed with cudgels, stones and other dangerous weapons. There was a free for all as the supporters could not control their emoticons.
The fight left many people injured, while scores of cars were damaged by the rampaging thugs. It took the intervention of t soldiers, who were drafted to the party headquarters to restore sanity as even police reinforcement could not calm the restive youths away.
Faleke, before he left for the Abuja meeting had told party supporters in Lokoja, the state capital that he was ready to defend the mandate freely given to APC on the Audu/Faleke ticket.
He stated that he carried a moral burden to defend the interest, vision and leadership tenets of the late Audu, adding that the political family was more united than ever.
He accused those he described as reactionaries of trying to truncate the process that ordinarily should have led to a smooth transition of power in the state.
Meanwhile, Ebira Renaissance Group, ERG, and Ebira Youth Congress, EYC, have aligned with the position of APC to nominate Bello as replacement for Audu in line with the Electoral Act.
The spokesman of the group, Pastor Joseph Suleiman, who spoke in Lokoja yesterday, stated that they are in support of Bello and urged him to reach out to all the aggrieved parties.
“We at ERG, EYC take particular exception to the ethnic dimension which the present political logjam has triggered in the state.
