Kogi Gov Poll: Why Tribunal dismissed Faleke’s petition

Faleke had gone before the tribunal to
challenge the legitimacy of Yahaya Bello’s
emergence as the Governor of Kogi state.

He queried the refusal of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, INEC, to declare
him as the valid winner of the governorship
election in Kogi State.

Faleke, who is currently representing Ikeja II
Federal Constituency, Lagos, in the House of
Representatives, through his team of lawyers led
by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, contended that
the initial election had produced a winner in late
Prince Abubakar Audu, saying his death arrogates
to him, the status of governor-elect.

Insisting that he had a joint ticket with late Audu,
Faleke argued that INEC should not have
declared the election inconclusive since they had
already secured enough votes to warrant the
declaration of a winner on the basis of the total
number of votes that were cast.

He therefore prayed the tribunal to declare that
INEC acted wrongly when it declared the
outcome of the November 21, 2015,
governorship poll in Kogi State inconclusive.
Both the petitioner and the 2nd respondent,
Bello, belong to the All Progressives Congress,
APC.

However, in their unanimous
judgment yesterday, the three-man tribunal
headed by Justice Halima Mohammed, held that
Faleke could not be declared governor
considering that his party, the APC, never
nominated him as its substantive candidate for
the 2015 Kogi governorship election.

The tribunal, which conducted its proceedings in
Abuja, maintained that under the law, the
political party, APC, had the right to nominate or
choose its candidate for the election.

It said the party did not act in breach of either
the 1999 Constitution, as amended, or the
Electoral Act, when it nominated Yahaya Bello to
replace the late Audu as its candidate in the
December 2015 supplementary election.

Besides, Justice Mohammed who read the lead
verdict, held that Faleke had no locus-standi to
institute the action since he was not nominated
by the APC as its governorship candidate.

Reacting to the judgement, Governor Bello said
it was a victory for the people of the state, who
had been yearning for meaningful development
for many years.

The governor, who spoke in Lokoja, the state
capital after the tribunal’s verdict, however, said
with the judgment, he would be glad to receive
Faleke to enable him contribute to the
development of the state.

He said: “Since my mandate is from the almighty
Allah I have no doubt in my mind that, we are
going to have this victory today, it is a victory for
the people of Kogi State, it is a victory for our
party.

“It was a judgment between me and my brother,
honourable James Faleke, he is not my
opponent, we belong to the same party and it is
just an explanation that he sought from the court
and court has given its own explanation to him,
he is my brother, he should come and join me.''