Faleke Insists On Being Declared Kogi Governor

[caption id="attachment_6337" align="alignnone" width="680"]Hon. James Faleke[/caption]

The running mate to late Prince Abubakar Audu in the November 21, 2015 Kogi State governorship election, Hon. James Faleke, has insisted that the Kogi State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Abuja declare him governor of the state.

While speaking as a witness in the petition he filed at the tribunal on Monday, Faleke, who said that he ought to have been sworn-in as governor following the death of Audu, stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no reason to declare the election inconclusive.

Faleke adopted several statements on oath and documents which he filed in respect of the petition as his evidence.

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He thereafter prayed the tribunal to accept them and declare him governor of the state.

According to him, he was not aware that Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Bello Yahaya, was a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stating that he was “aware Yahaya campaigned for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the election”.

Faleke also said he was not aware that Yahaya Bello contested the APC primary with Audu.

He told the tribunal that he did not know any of the candidates who contested with the late Audu.

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According to Faleke, “I did not see the result of the primary election because I left the venue but the next information I had is that late Audu won the primary and I was chosen as the running mate.”

He also told the tribunal that the result of the election, which he said he co-won with Audu, the late APC candidate, was declared in each polling unit and each of the ward collation centres.

Faleke said the death of Audu had nothing to do with the inconclusiveness of the election and that they had already won before it was declared inconclusive.

He said he knew they had already won the November 21 governorship election and that was why he did not participate in the December 5 election.

“Myself and Prince Audu were declared winners at each polling unit, ward collation centre, each local government and the state collation centre.

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“The state’s Returning Officer declared the result at the state collation centers.

“Prince Audu died in the morning and the election was declared inconclusive in the evening, so it was declared inconclusive far after the death,” Faleke said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), part of the documents that was tendered and admitted in evidence were Form CF001, Form CF002 and many more.

Hearing on the petition is expected to continue today.

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