Faleke, who stated in a statement by his spokesman, Duro Meseko, said that he had no regrets challenging the decision of the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, which declared the November 21, 2015 governorship election in the state as inconclusive.

“We have heard the judgment handed down by the Supreme Court jurists upholding Yahaya Bello as governor. We shall wait for the full text of the judgment to know why they came to that conclusion.

“But let it be stated here that we have no regrets challenging the declaration of our election as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). What we did was to defend the votes cast for Audu/Faleke by the over 240,000 electorates on November 21, 2015.

“The people voted for us as candidates not the APC because they believe in the kind of leadership we offered to provide for them during our campaigns. It would therefore amount to crass betrayal of the trust of the electorate not to have defended their votes till the end.”

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The court in a unanimous judgement dismissed the appeal filed by Hon. James Faleke, the running mate to late Abubakar Audu, the initial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, and a former Governor of the State, Captain Idris Wada, who was also the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the election.

The court said it will give reasons for its judgement on September 30, 2016.

Details later…

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A five-member panel led by Justice Jumai Hannatu Sankey held that the appellant, James Faleke, failed to substantiate his allegation that Bello was not qualified for the election.

Justice Sankey, who read the lead judgment, resolved all the six issues determined against the appellant.

The panel consequently upheld the judgment of the election tribunal and dismissed Faleke’s appeal.

Faleke had challenged the emergence of Bello as governor and asked the tribunal to declare him governor because the election of late Abubakar Audu was almost concluded before he died.

Bello was nominated by the APC to replace its late candidate, Audu, who Faleke ran with as deputy governorship candidate before Audu’s sudden death.

But on June 6, the Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, dismissed Faleke’s petition, saying the lawmaker was unable to prove his case.

The tribunal said the fact that INEC declared the first election held on November 21, 2015 inconclusive meant no governor or deputy governor-elect had emerged.

It also averred that all votes cast belong to political parties, “it is the political party, through the instrumentality of its candidate that runs for election.”

The tribunal had said Faleke therefore lacked the locus standi to challenge the nomination of Bello to replace the late Audu since he was never a deputy governor-elect.

The tribunal therefore, threw away his petition as lacking in merit.

“No right can accrue from an inconclusive election,” it said.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, Faleke headed to the appellate court, which has now thrown out his appeal.

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The Director, Media and Publicity of Audu/Faleke Campaign Organisation, Duro Meseko, said in a statement on Saturday that the duo arrived the SSS headquarters in Abuja at exactly 10.00am and were kept in an office with assurances that an officer would attend to them only to keep them indefinitely.

Meseko said the two politicians were kept in an isolated office till 4p.m on Saturday evening.

He said, “I’m surprised my Principal and the eldest son of our political leader, Mohammed are still being kept as I speak with you which is 4pm. What could be responsible for this ill treatment by the SSS?

“Or could they be acting the intimidation script? Trying to arms-twist them into abandoning the sacred mandate freely given to the Audu/Faleke team by the generality of Kogi people?

“Let me make it abundantly clear that our mandate is sacred and no amount of of technical detention, intimidation and harassment would shake our resolve to get justice through the judiciary.‎

“I refuse to believe that the presidency has hands in the arrest! But we may not rule out the fact that the power that be must have wielded their influence in the arrest, but we are not not pertubed over the development, because we believe that God ultimately vindicate us,” he stated.

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Odigie-Oyegun said this in Abuja on Wednesday in an interaction with newsmen.

Faleke, who was running mate to late Abubakar Audu in the Nov. 21 gubernatorial elections in Kogi, rejected the same position after the party replaced Audu with Alhaji Yayaha Bello, who was runner-up in the party’s primaries.

Faleke demanded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should declare him governor-elect, and chose Audu’s son, Mohammed, as his running mate.

He threatened to court of INEC failed to do so, and had since gone to court.

Odigie-Oyegun said that “On the Faleke issue, it is rather a straightforward and easy issue; we have replaced a governorship candidate. If the need arises and subject to what the law says, we will also get a deputy governorship candidate but we will cross those bridges as they arise but they have not arisen yet.”

On Falake’s statement not to be available for swearing-in on Jan. 27, 2016, he said, “as a political party, we simply understand the frustration that emanated from the death of Abubakar Audu.

“However, it is normal for us to accommodate the immediate reactions coming from the people involved. They were at the gate of victory but the gate was shut in their faces because of the unfortunate death of their mentor, Abubakar Audu, who would have been our governor in the state.

“So, a lot of things which normally we would not have accepted happened but we have to accept them so long that everybody will simmer down as time pass by.

“Wielding the big stick in a situation like this might not be appropriate but there will be a timeline to it, enough will be enough at a certain time.”

According to the chairman, issues in the state have been resolved in favour of the APC even as the entire polity had to be original to finding solutions to problems which were not detailed in the Constitution.

“In the next few weeks depending on who goes to court or who doesn’t, we will know the boundaries of the law in respect of these issues.

“As at now we are very glad with the results that we have got and I’m very sure that they would be upheld virtually in every tribunal whatsoever, because we have adopted simple commonsense solution, legally defendable,” he said.

He said that the party was not disturbed by the cases in court on the Kogi situation, stating that it was still evolving.

“We cross every bridge as we get to it; we’ll wait and see who does what and work out answers that meet each situation

“We have thought the process through and we have won the election in Kogi; those we feel aggrieved, it is for them to call to question whatever they feel aggrieved about and we are going to meet them on those grounds.

“For us in APC, Kogi is a settled issue; if you want to go to the tribunal, we’ll meet you there. If you want to go to court, we’ll meet you there,” he said.

Odigie-Oyegun said that the party’s stance on the controversial Bill for an Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions and Other Matters known as the anti-social media bill was known.

He said that the social media space needed clean up as the use of outright abuses and insults instead of constructive criticisms was wrong.

On subsidy, he said “whether subsidy goes or stays is an intricate and major issue.

“If it has to go, the government must have to construct the palliatives to cushion the effect of the hardships that may come on the ordinary Nigerian.

“Anyway, eventually, subsidy will have to go but we have not reached that stage yet.

“You cannot just wake up and announce that subsidy has been removed without putting the adequate programmes in place to cushion the negative aspects that may be involved.”

The chairman told the newsmen that minimum wage was a delicate issue because there were a lot of forces at work.

“The economy was run aground so badly that they have to borrow to pay salaries and this was not the creation of APC.

“Today all governments are borrowing to pay salaries and that cannot be sustained. What the solution is on the longer term, the machinery of governance is still working on.

“There is no method that is adopted that will not create stresses on any system but at the end of the day, we will find an answer,’’ he said.

On Bayelsa election outcome, Odigie-Oyegun said that the party was not satisfied but said that since INEC had made a pronouncement on it, the option the party had was to accept it or go to court.

“We are waiting for the processes to be concluded, but I must say we have a lot of reservations about what has gone on up till the present moment.

“If we win as we expect to win, the kind of reactions that we’ll take will be different,” he said.

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The Publicity Secretary of the party in Kogi, Bode Ogunmola, said in Lokoja that the results of the election was unacceptable to the party and cannot stand the test of time.

He said the death of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu on Nov. 22, while collation was ongoing had made it inevitable for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare PDP candidate, Idris Wada, winner of the poll.

Ogunmola said PDP had rejected the declaration of Yahaya Bello as winner of the exercise, saying that the party would challenge the results before the tribunal.

He commended people of the state for their support to the party before and during the poll, urging them to continue to be law abiding.

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Faleke also wrote the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, demanding the removal of his name as the running mate to Yahaya Bello in the supplementary election.

INEC had declared the election inconclusive and ordered a supplementary election which will hold on December 5.

Faleke had threatened to go to court following the adoption of Bello by the APC national leadership as the governorship candidate of the party in the supplementary election.

Bello’s adoption at the meeting of the National Working Committee of the party followed the death of the former governorship candidate, Abubakar Audu, on November 22.

The party immediately forwarded his name to INEC as replacement for Audu and that of Faleke as his running mate.

In the suit filed by his counsel, Wole Olanipekun, Faleke, a serving member of the House of Representatives, said contrary to the claim by the electoral body, the election was conclusive and that as the running mate to the late Audu, he should be declared winner.

The court papers were served on INEC Tuesday afternoon.

The deputy governorship candidate had written INEC on November 26, insisting that he was the governor-elect following Mr. Audu’s death.

He asked the Commission not to go ahead with the supplementary election.

“In law and logic, no new candidate can inherit or be a beneficiary of the votes already cast, counted and declared by INEC before that candidate was nominated and purportedly sponsored,” Mr. Faleke wrote through Mr. Olanipekun.

“Assuming without conceding that INEC is even right to order a supplementary election, the votes already cast, counted and declared on Saturday, 25th November 2015, were votes for the joint constitutional ticket of Prince Abubakar Audu and our client.

“Therefore, no new or ‘supplementary’ candidate can hijack, aggregate, appropriate or inherit the said votes.”

In another letter to APC Chairman, John Oyegun, Mr. Faleke urged his party to distance itself from the “Greek Gift” being offered to it to nominate a new candidate for a planned supplementary election in 91 polling units. He said

He added that the election had already been won and lost, and that the party should rather support him in actualizing the mandate already given to APC and its candidates.

According to the result declared by INEC, Mr. Audu had the highest number of votes thus leading the 21 other candidates, including the incumbent governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, who was the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party.

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Wada in a statement issued in Lokoja on Sunday by his Communications Manager, Phrank Shaibu, the governor said having had more time to study the INEC’s decision; it was left with no choice but to conclude that the commission embarked on a hatchet job.

Wada said in view of the death of the All Progressives Congress’ candidate, Abubakar Audu, he should be declared the winner of the botched election being the only surviving candidate with the majority of lawful votes cast in the election held on November 21.

He said the conclusion was reinforced by the fact that “whatever votes Audu scored in the election died with him, ” saying that INEC simply overreached itself, and wondered why a body established to be the custodian of the rule of law would ignore the fundamentals of the rule of law in arriving at the decision not to issue him a certificate of return.

The statement described as specious INEC’s argument that APC’s right to substitution was sustained by the Electoral Act, saying the electoral body should know that it is for the court, not the Commission, to determine which course of action is effective or not.

It said in arriving at a decision, INEC merely carried out the directives of the Attorney General of the Federation, but argued that the AGF was not competent to issue directives to INEC to allow APC to substitute its candidate for the Kogi guber poll and that such directives were null and void for inconsistency with the provisions of the constitution.

“To us as a party, the most egregious of the faux pas committed by INEC is asking the APC to lawfully nominate a candidate for the supplementary governorship election without a valid and legally cognizable primary election of the party conducted within the mandatory timeliness specified by the Electoral Act.

“It is our considered opinion that, INEC, more than any other body, ought to know that havingregards to the provisions of Section 141 of the Electoral Act, 2010, votes scored by a candidate who died during an election cannot be inherited by or transferred to a person who was not a candidate at the said election and who did not participate in all stages of such election, for the purpose of concluding such election,” Shaibu said.

He said it was on the strength of the position of the Electoral Act on the developments in Kogi state that he has asked the court to compel the INEC to issue him with a certificate of return.

Shaibu said the party was hopeful that the court will issue an order of injunction restraining APC from organising or holding a fresh primary election for the purpose of any supplementary election having regard to the immutable statutory timelines provided by enabling sections of the Electoral Act 2010 and the INEC timetable for Kogi governorship election.

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The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Saturday’s election inconclusive. Before then, collated results from majority of the local government showed Audu was in the lead.

Audu however died on Sunday, prompting the party to commence the process of choosing a new flag bearer — as directed by INEC.

The APC in Kogi nominated the son of the late Audu, Mohammed Audu, to become the candidate, while the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said its candidate, incumbent Idris Wada, should be declared governor.

In his first letter to INEC on Wednesday, Faleke said he was the proper beneficiary of the cast vote, and urged the commission to declare him governor-elect.

In a second letter to Oyegun, Faleke, through his lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, again highlighted the danger of acceding to INEC’s directive of selecting a fresh candidate.

Faleke said INEC and all parties to the election had already reached a point of no return. He said holding a supplementary primary to produce a candidate for a supplementary election in 91 polling units can only produce a supplementary governor for Kogi state.

Faleke said the total number of outstanding votes in the remaining 91 polling units are not more than 25, 000 and that even if all the registered voters vote for the new candidate, it would mean the new governor would be a governor of 91 polling units only.

He cited section 197(2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution which states that “(2) A candidate for an election to the office of Governor of a State shall be deemed to have been duly elected where there being two or more candidates. (b) He has not less than one-quarter of all the votes cast of at least two-thirds of all the local government areas of the state”.

Faleke also recalled that in 1999, when the governor-elect of Adamawa state, Atiku Abubakar, was made Vice President, INEC ordered a rerun election to produce a fresh governor.

But he said, the PDP challenged the decision saying Atiku’s deputy, Boni Haruna, should automatically be made governor.

He said the legal battle surrounding the matter went up to the Supreme Court which ruled in favour of the PDP allowing Mr. Haruna to serve as governor and even winning re-election.

Faleke equally reminded Oyegun of how some leading members of the APC in coalition with some “decent forces” in the country, bandying the “doctrine of necessity”, championed the course of then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to be appointed acting president when the president at the time, Umaru Yar’adua, became terminally ill.

He said that Jonathan thereafter became substantive president for six years.

“If we could rely on the ‘doctrine of necessity’ and maximally utilize same to make Vice President Goodluck Jonathan the sitting president, it then goes without saying that both INEC and APC must submit themselves to the doctrine of constitutional imperative and /or necessity to allow our client to be governor-elect of Kogi state,” according to the letter.

Faleke and his lawyers said they were “ready and willing” to articulate and defend their position before any organ of the party.

He vowed not to “trade off or compromise his mandate as the governor elect of Kogi state”.

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INEC had on Tuesday decided to allow the APC replace its candidate, Abubakar Audu, who died while the results were been counted, him with another candidate, adding that it would hold the supplementary election on December 5.

However, the PDP, after its National Caucus meeting in Abuja on Wednesday night, said INEC’s decision was wrong and called on the commission to declare its candidate, Capt Idris Wada (retd.) as the winner of the November 21 governorship election.

It said this should be so because the APC had legally crashed out of the election, following the demise of Audu.

The communique of the meeting, read to journalists on Thursday by the party’s national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, said the action of INEC and the APC on the election was illegal.

“In order to save the nation’s democracy from imminent collapse, the PDP as a critical stakeholder will immediately challenge this unlawful and unconstitutional decision by INEC in the court.

“With the death of its candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC has legally crashed out of the governorship race as no known law or constitutional provision allows the substituting of candidates, once the ballot process has commenced.

“With the unfortunate death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC has no valid candidate in the election, leaving INEC with no other lawful option than to declare the PDP candidate, Capt. Idris Wada as the winner of the election,” the communique said.

PDP also alleged that the leadership of INEC under the Chairmanship of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu had demonstrated that it was incapable of neutrality and as such could not be vested with the conduct of the Kogi governorship supplementary election as well as the December 5, 2015, Bayelsa governorship election.

“We completely reject the decision of INEC in yielding to the unlawful prompting of a clearly partisan Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, to allow APC to substitute a candidate in the middle of an election, even when such has no place in the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

“(PDP) Notes that the combine reading of the provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act do not in any way whatsoever support the substitution of candidates for election in the middle of the ballot process.

“(PDP) Notes that if APC is allowed to substitute its original candidate, then the party would have fielded two separate candidates in the same election, a scenario that is completely alien to our electoral laws and to any known democratic norms and practice world-over.”

The communique added that the caucus has demanded the immediate resignation of the chairman and all national commissioners of INEC to pave the way for a new non-partisan commission to conduct the forth-coming elections.

“Caucus also demands the immediate resignation of the AGF, Malami for deliberately misleading INEC into arriving at the unconstitutional decision of allowing APC to substitute its candidate in the inconclusive election.

“Caucus also alerts that the AGF, INEC and APC are creating a scenario where a loser in a primary will patiently wait for the winning candidate to finish election and then have him either poisoned or assassinated before the final collation of results.

“Caucus calls on the international community to prevail on the APC government to stop this ceaseless assault on our democracy,” the communique further said.

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