BREAKING NEWS, Politics
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The crisis caused by the sudden death of Abubakar Audu, gubernatorial candidate of the APC, in the inconclusive election held on Saturday, November 21, remains a major headache for the leadership of the party as stakeholders refuse to agree
THE crisis of substitution in the All Progressives Congress caused by the sudden death of Abubakar Audu, gubernatorial candidate of the party, in the inconclusive election held on Saturday, November 21, appears to be festering. Despite the move by the party leadership to reconcile Yahaya Bello, substitute governorship candidate and James Faleke, his running mate before unveiling them on Monday, November 30, failed.
Faleke, who was the running mate to the late Audu rejected the deputy governorship slot ahead of Saturday December 5, supplementary election.
The party after consultations chose Bello to replace Audu, who died on Sunday, November 22, after the Kogi state governorship election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Addressing the media after three hours of meeting with John Odigie-Oyegun-led APC National Working Committee, NWC, Faleke said he would not accept the offer to be Bello’s running mate because he was already governor-elect. He said the meeting was not a reconciliatory one but rather to brief them about the decision of the party leaders to field Bello as Audu’s replacement.
He said: “The party told us that we have nominated Alhaji Yahaya Bello. Of course, we made it clear as the political family of Prince Abubakar Audu. We told them that it is not acceptable. We will not go with it. I personally observed that my name has been submitted to the INEC as deputy governorship candidate to pair with Alhaji Bello. I told the national chairman in clear words that ‘Mr. Chairman I have submitted a letter this morning (yesterday) 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 Bello because I am already governor-elect.
“I also told him, ‘Mr. Chairman 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.”
Faleke alleged that Bello was not a part of all their campaigns, saying he had written to both the party and the INEC about his stand and would subsequently approach the court to challenge the INEC on his own over the declaration of the governorship election as inconclusive.
He said he would also challenge the supplementary election, if they went ahead to hold it on December 5.
“Since the party will not go to court, we have taken it upon ourselves as our right to defend ourselves in court. We will challenge the decision,” he said.
Faleke had earlier picked Mohammed Audu, son of the late Audu as his deputy in coming poll.
After much persuasion, Bello, who initially refused to talk to the press, confirmed that he had been selected by the APC leadership to replace Audu to run in the Kogi supplementary governorship poll. “I have been chosen as a replacement for Audu. I won’t say much, but to say thank you for all the cooperation you have extended to me,” he said.
Bello, who paid tributes to the late Audu, also expressed his gratitude to the party’s leadership for offering him the opportunity to contest for the governorship post.
Before the meeting on Monday, there was chaos at the APC headquarters in Abuja, as supporters of Bello and Faleke clashed over the speculation that Bello might be named the party’s governorship candidate for the forthcoming Kogi State supplementary polls.
The supporters defied the security cordon and unleashed violence on anyone in sight around the national secretariat of the party that afternoon.
Policemen on duty had a hectic time controlling the rival groups as they threw stones, hit one another with sticks and smashed cars.
In the end many people sustained injuries while many of the cars parked within the vicinity of the party’s office were damaged.
It took the reinforcement of security personnel to successfully disperse the agitated supporters.
— Dec 1, 2015 @ 14:55 GMT
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