‘APC pushed Bello to steal Audu’s victory’ Says, Igbokwe

JOE Igbokwe, the publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, has faulted the ruling party for picking Yahaya Bello to replace the late governorship candidate of the party, Abubakar Audu, in the November 21 governorship poll in Kogi State.

Bello who was inaugurated today amidst the crisis within the Kogi APC as the running mate to Audu, James Faleke, had filed a suit at the Supreme Court, seeking to be declared the winner of the December 5 governorship election in Kogi.

In an article published online by Sahara Reporters titled, “Can we allow the travesty in Kogi State to stand in a democracy?,” Igbokwe faulted the Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission for Kogi State, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, for declaring the election as inconclusive.

Igbokwe, who described the inauguration of Bello as illegal, claimed that he (Bello) did not support the APC during the election and only inherited Audu’s votes.

According to him, Faleke should have been declared the winner of the poll and not Bello.

Quoting section 181 (1) of the country’s constitution to justify his claim, Igbokwe said if a person duly elected as governor died before taking the oath of office, his running mate ‘shall be inaugurated as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy governor who shall be appointed by the governor with the approval of a simple majority of the house of the assembly of the state’.

He said, “I am writing this piece as Joe Igbokwe and not as the Publicity Secretary of the APC in Lagos State. I am writing as an independent writer and a public commentator on national affairs. Please, permit me to air my views before we inaugurate Alhaji Yahaya Bello who never won the governorship election in Kogi State.

“The system may have decided to inaugurate Mr. Bello as governor but l want history to record that l saw a travesty and an aberration coming and I raised the alarm. The alarm may be ignored but history will be my witness.

“A combination of ethnic politics, primordial sentiments and the fear of the unknown led the Kogi State APC and the National APC to do the unthinkable by pushing Alhaji Bello, who lost the primary, and might not have supported the APC candidate in the cause of the election proper, to steal the mandate won by Prince Audu and James Faleke in a keenly contested exercise fraught with excruciating pains, doubts, apprehension, anxiety, fatigue, panic and unease.”

Igbokwe, however, expressed optimism that the Supreme Court would declare Faleke as the duly elected governor of the state.

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