Two unpleasant options confront Hon James Faleke, former running mate of the late Prince Abubakar Audu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the November 21 Kogi State governorship election.
Faleke’s prospects of retaining his seat in the House of Representatives are growing dimmer by the day as critics continue to mount pressure on him to vacate his national legislature seat on grounds that he has yielded it in search of deputy governorship position in Kogi.
Faleke currently represents Ikeja Constituency in Lagos and had transferred his voter’s card and constituency to Kogi State prior to the governorship election.
As such, the Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) questioned the continued representation of the people of Lagos State by Faleke, accusing him, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of “desperation, political immorality and gross violation of the spirit of our electoral laws”.
PDP Chairman in Lagos, Mr Tunji Shelle said the continued membership of the House of Representatives by Faleke was improper and unfair to the people of Ikeja in Lagos whom he represents.
The party, therefore, issued a seven–day ultimatum “for Hon James Faleke to declare his present place of voter’s registration and for INEC to clear the air on the appropriateness of Faleke interchanging polling units within a scope of less than six months”.
The party also called on the House of Representatives not to be partisan in the matter by “making public its unequivocal stance on the propriety or otherwise of Faleke’s continued membership of the House of Representatives representing Ikeja in Lagos State, even after transferring its voter card and constituency to Kogi State”.
The PDP further described the present status of Faleke in the House of Representatives as that of a usurper who should no longer be fit and proper to be called Honourable.
“If the demand is not met within the period of this ultimatum, we shall use all means permitted and effective to reclaim the seat for Lagos State,” Shelle said in a statement.
But Faleke, whose political sojourn attained a new phase with the Kogi elections, prides himself as a fighter, at least in principle.
He could not pass on the opportunity to be the running mate of the late Prince Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who in the run up to the November 21 guber poll, was favourite to win.
Faleke, 56, practised his politics in Lagos, serving as council chairman, Ojodu LEDA from 2004 to 2011 and subsequently elected as member representing Ikeja in the House of Representatives.
And so when the politics of the running mate was hatched and he became the deputy designate of Audu, it ruffled a few feathers in the state. Audu’s clout was however sufficient to stave off any concerns about Faleke’s “Koginess”.
But Audu died as the results were declared. And just when they were about to cross the finish line in a landmark victory, the result of the poll was declared inconclusive.
Unmindful of Audu’s death, it would seem, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the election was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units in 18 local government areas, where election was cancelled is 49,953.
According to results declared by the Returning Officer, Professor Emmanuel Kucha (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi), Audu scored 240,867 while Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party garnered 199,514 votes.
Kucha said the margin of votes between Audu and Wada was 41,353. That figure is higher than the 41,353 votes with which Audu is ahead of Wada.
The returning officer said by INEC guideline, no return could be made for the election until supplementary election is held in areas where election was cancelled.
From there on, events snowballed into a political cum legal roller coaster of sorts. While his party, the APC, requested and got permission from INEC to replace Audu, ahead of the supplementary polls, it picked Alhaji Yahaya Bello, first runner up at its primaries, asking Faleke to continue as running mate.
Faleke rejected the decision of his party, distanced himself from the ticket and declared himself the rightful heir to Audu’s bequeathed votes.
He further wrote to INEC refusing to be recognized as the running mate of Bello ahead of the December 5 supplementary poll, having picked Audu’s son, Mohammed, as his running mate.
He denied knowledge of party’s leadership moves to broker peace while reacting to the announcement by the National Chairman of the APC, John Odigie-Oyegun, who said overtures have been made to him to concede the governorship position to Yahaya Bello.
The case he instituted against his party’s decision not to declare him their candidate at the first ballot did not see the light of day.
Faleke, making good his vow not to yield to the party’s position, did not make himself available during the supplementary polls as well as the Certificate of Return to Yahaya Bello ceremony.
Despite his claims of a conspiracy to silence him over his refusal to accept the party’s terms, he has, in abiding with the court ruling on his case, gone to the election tribunal where he hopes to get justice.
However, as overtures to Faleke fail, the governor-elect Bello and APC, have turned their searchlight on the Igalas, seeking to consolidate his hold on power.
Bello and Faleke are from minority ethnic groups in the state, Ebira and Okun respectively. With Igala, the major ethnic group with overwhelming population not so prominent in the administration of the state, Bello’s moves to garner their support was only natural.
More so, the possibility of finding a replacement for Faleke gets stronger as he continues to insist he would not betray Audu’s political empire so soon by denying the joint ticket the people overwhelmingly voted for.
It was gathered that the APC had met with some Igala stakeholders in APC to see how an Igala would emerge deputy to Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
It was also gathered from Igala stakeholders that many Igala sons and daughters are indicaing interest in the coveted position.
Those alleged to have shown interest in the position when APC leaders approached the Igalas for the replacement of Faleke, include Hon Simon Achuba, former House of Assembly member, Hon Tim Diche, governorship aspirant, Hon Ikani Okolo, member representing Dekina/Bassa federal constituency in the House of Representatives and Hon Aisha Audu née Emeje, former governorship aspirant.
A stalwart of APC from the area, Alhaji Ibrahim Linco Ocheje told our reporter that he heard the rumour but nobody has officially made the position known to him. As far as he was concerned, it is mere figment of imagination of those clamouring to be deputy when the position is not zoned to the area, adding that “even if it’s the child of necessity, it has not reached that stage yet”.
With Faleke’s seat in the lower Federal legislative chamber embroiled in a growing controversy and the prospects of his governorship mandate squarely at the mercy of the court, his political sojourn could either wane if he loses both or become brighter depending on the outcome of the two-fold battle he faces.
