Hon. James Faleke, former running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 21 Kogi State governorship poll has filed a petition before the State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Faleke, accompanied by Mohammed Audu, son of the late Abubakar Audu, and lawyers, submitted the petition to the clerk of the tribunal at about 12.20 p.m. in Lokoja Monday.
Hundreds of party members and supporters converged on the state High Court premises, venue of the tribunal, to witness the event.
NAN, however, reports that the Secretary of the tribunal, Mr Akanji Akinlabi, who received the petition, said the contents were yet to become public.
Faleke is challenging INEC’s decision which declared the election inconclusive.
Faleke’s tribunal suit, disrespect for APC – rights activist
A human right activist, Mr. Emmanuel Owotunse has taken a swipe at Hon. James Faleke for approaching the tribunal over the choice of Alh. Yahaya Bello as the party’s candidate to replace the late Prince Abubakar Audu, saying Faleke’s action was an affront to the authority of the party.
Speaking in Lokoja on Monday, Owotunse said the action of the party was based on the fact that Yahaya Bello was the most constitutionally qualified to replace the late Audu.
He said: “Faleke is taking too many wrong steps. His lawyers are surely misleading him into taking decisions that will burn his political fingers.
“More so, the fact that Faleke is a close ally of the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is raising concern that the decision of Faleke to go to the tribunal may affect party cohesion as the National Working Committee will surely be disappointed by the new twist in the whole saga.
He added, “I am not happy that Faleke is giving a wrong impression of himself. He set out to be Deputy Governor ab initio. Why and when did he become desperate to be the governor of the state? If the party gave him the ticket for the supplementary poll, the tribunal would have nullified his election because he never took part in the governorship primaries. Is he indirectly working for the emergence of PDP?
“Faleke should beware of political jobbers around him who are reaping bountifully from his wrong steps. He should accept the position of his party and move on with his political life”.
-Leadership/Vanguard/NAN