The Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation has accused the declared winner of the December 5 Kogi supplementary governorship election, Alhaji Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of lobbying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to get a back-dated Permanent Voter Card (PVC).
A statement by the group’s Director of Publicity, Duro Meseko, said the Campaign Organisation had it “on good authority that Yahaya Bello, who was fielded as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC) in the December 5 supplementary poll is not a registered voter and this is our prayer in the petition we filed against his nomination by our party as a replacement for the late flag bearer, Prince Abubakar Audu.”
The group in the statement claimed to be in possession of the Certified True Copy (CTP) of the PVC register used by INEC for the November 21 governorship election and the supplementary poll on December 5, 2015.
So, any attempt to register Yahaya Bello or any other person for the purpose of an election that had been held would be judicially challenged.
“We heard that the supplementary governor-elect whose name was not on the Permanent Voter Register has been trying to lobby INEC officials to smuggle his name into the register for the purpose of his defence at the Kogi Governorship Election Petitions’ Tribunal.
This, if done, would not only compromise the judicial process but would be inimical to the anti-corruption crusade of the APC-led Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We hereby warn INEC to call its officials to order, as any officer who allowed himself to be used by party in a pending litigation would have him/herself to blame.”
Faleke was the deputy governorship candidate to the late Audu in the November 21 governorship poll in Kogi State and had challenged the legality of fielding Bello, and not him (Faleke) as APC flag bearer in the supplementary poll following Audu’s sudden death as results were being announced.
Credit: Guardian
