Kogi: Faleke Now in National Assembly

Following the conclusion of the

supplementary governorship election in Kogi State and his persistent refusal to accept the position of deputy governor-elect, James Faleke, yesterday showed up in the House of Representatives where he took part in the day’s plenary.

Faleke, who had persistently insisted on being declared governor-elect of Kogi State, following the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, currently chairs the Committee on Customs and Excise in the Eight House of Representatives.

The lawmaker stormed the green chamber in a white ‘agbada’ and his popular hand-made red cap. He was greeted with cheers and ovation from his colleagues in the House as he approached the chair where he held a chat with Speaker Yakubu Dogara for some minutes before taking his officially allotted seat.

The presence of the two-time lawmaker in the House having transferred his voter card from Lagos to Kogi to enable him exercise his franchise has also raised new legal questions as to whether or not he still has the legal right to represent Lagos State.

Faleke, who rejected his re-nomination as deputy governorship candidate to the eventual winner and gover-elect, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has since gone to court asking the judiciary to declare him governor-elect instead of Bello whose name the All Progressives Congress (APC) forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as substitute to the late Audu.

In the suit, Faleke argued that both the INEC and the APC erred by, first, declaring the election inconclusive when the circumstances leading to cancellation of votes in most of the affected polling units bothered on over-voting and refusal to use card reader which amounted to violation of the electoral Act of 2010.

He is also faulting APC’s decision to substitute late Audu with Yahaya Bello when he (Faleke) who participated in all the stages of the election with the late candidate should have been the replacement as against Bello, who did not participate in all the stages of the election apart from the primaries where he came second.

Faleke’s camp has also accused Bello of anti-party activities during the inconclusive poll, saying the latter worked against the interest of the APC, which accounted for why the party even lost his own polling booth in Okene.

However, efforts to get views of lawyers concerning the legal implication of the development could not yield results as at the time of filing in this report.