The All Progressives Party’s (APC) Deputy Governorship candidate in the 2015 elections in Kogi State, James Faleke has raised the alarm over the spate of deliberate victimisation of members of the Audu/Faleke Political family within the party by both the Federal and State governments respectively.
In a statement released yesterday, Faleke who is a member of House of Representatives warned that the cruel lopsidedness in appointments which is deliberately skewed against the Audu/Faleke members may be detrimental to the the political fortunes of the party in the nearest future.
Faleke noted that at a time when the Federal Government should be looking for ways of assuaging the feelings of members of his group who actually campaigned and won the Governorship seat for APC in the state, all appointments so far have been alloted to the Governor Yahaya Bello faction of the party in the state.
On the part of the Governor, Faleke expressed dismay with the level his administration would go on a voyage of self-serving vendetta to annihilate members of the political family of the late Prince Abubakar Audu who actually campaigned and won the Governorship seat that he and his hoards of Peoples Democratic Party’s(PDP) appointees are currently enjoying.
“My heart bleeds over the macabre dance of unimaginable treachery and victimisation of patriotic and loyal members of APC who actually campaigned and won the Governorship seat for the party in the state that was cruelly gifted Alhaji Yahaya Bello. Unfortunately, the most culpable party is the Federal Government that is supposed to play the role of father- to -all. Till date, not a single federal appointment has been extended to our members, rather the appointments go to cronies of the Governor, who knew next to nothing as to the energy and toil we put into the campaigns that won the APC both the Presidential and Governorship elections in the state among others”.
According to Faleke, ” Most worrisome is the disturbing trend of Marginalisation of Kogi West in these federal appointments. I would not be wrong to conclude that the good people of Kogi West where I hail from are being ruthlessly punished by the powers that be as part of a bigger bizzare political script to completely shut me and my supporters out of reckoning”.
“How else can one explain the appointments of majority of PDP members into the cabinet of Governor Yahaya Bello including the recent appointments of Senior Special Assistants(SSAs) and Special Assistants(SAs) from the Stable of PDP when loyal APC members, the proverbial goose that lay the golden eggs, are left to lick the wounds. How desperate and heartless can some people go in the name of political vendetta?”
Faleke further lamented that “it is unfortunate that the group that campaigned and won the Presidential election for President Muhammadu Buhari in Kogi State when Yahaya Bello and his supporters were busy campaigning for PDP is being made to suffer untold persecution even at Presidency,s level for reasons best known to the actors”
In his words, “the APC in Kogi is now more divided than ever. And can a house divided against itself ever stand? The larger implication of this unfortunate development to the party, if not urgently addressed, is better imagined. A word, they say, is enough for the wise”.
