Former running mate to Late Prince Abubakar Audu in the just concluded Kogi State governorship election, James Faleke, is under intense pressure from the Chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) John Oyegun to accept his election as Deputy Governor to Yahaya Bello and attend the swearing-in ceremony when it is time.
Faleke, who is insisting that he is the governor elect since the death of his principal had refused his nomination to run under Bello. The APC had replaced Prince Audu with Bello who went ahead to win the supplementary election.
Information available to Nigerian Times has it that Oyegun has since Saturday being piling pressure on Faleke to agree to be sworn in as Deputy Governor in order to give so level of legitimacy to Bello’s election.
Oyegun had told Faleke that President Buhari has asked that he (Faleke) accept the position and that his refusal will be a direct affront and disobedience to the president.
Our source also disclosed that with Faleke not caving in to Oyegun’s demand, the APC national chairman has decided to reach out to former governor of Lagos of State and one of top leaders of the party, Bola Tinubu, who widely believed to be Faleke’s benefactor, to get Faleke to capitulate and save the party serious embarrassment.
However Faleke has vowed not make himself available for swearing in with Bello on January 27, 2016.
Faleke stated this at a meeting of APC stakeholders in Kogi West Senatorial District in Kabba, Kogi State on Monday.
He explained that this was in furtherance of his earlier letter to the national leadership of the party not to work with Bello, then governorship candidate.
Faleke, who was reacting to resolutions reached at the meeting that he should pursue the legal option to a logical conclusion, held that the Audu/Faleke ticket remained intact and unchanged.
“I will not disappoint Prince Abubakar Audu. I, James Abiodun Faleke will not be there for the swearing in if we don’t finish the case before the Jan. 27, 2016.
“Nobody consulted me before making me a deputy to Bello. Bello too did not consult me. I have made my position known to the party leadership on this. I am not ready to betray and disappoint Prince Abubakar Audu”, he said.
He exonerated President Muhammadu Buhari from the crisis, saying that the president he knows cannot be a party to injustice and outright violation of the rule of law.
Faleke warned the leadership of the party against setting it on a path of destruction through impunity and injustice, adding that they should learn from what happened to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He said the present struggle was a complex one and beyond him, saying that it was about emancipation of the people and the future of the state.
While asking the people not to fight or castigate anybody over the development, Faleke said those who are fighting in 2015 for positions in 2019 were trying God.
“People are fighting for 2019 in 2015. Are they God? What is happening is beyond human imagination’’, he said.
He warned members and supporters of the party against fighting or castigating anybody, saying that those behind the plot were only working to actualize God’s plan and the ultimate liberation of the state from the jaws of poverty and under-development.
“I am a marathoner, no matter how bumpy and rough the road is, we shall get there’’, he said.
According to him, the constitutional crisis created by the sudden death of Audu, when finally resolved will enrich the country’s democracy.
He thanked the Igalas for their support and resolved to defend the mandate with his blood and assured them that their efforts will not be in vain.
Credits: Nigerian Times
