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• Governor Bello seeks support of duo
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, yesterday, dismissed Idris Wada’s case challenging the election of Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello.
The court also dismissed an appeal by James Abiodun Faleke, a deputy governorship candidate under the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election, as lacking merit.
Bello, meanwhile, has held out an olive branch to James Faleke, who was running mate to the late Prince Abubakar Audu, and also to the immediate past governor of the state, Idris Wada, who is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the November 21 Kogi gubernatorial election.
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Urging people of the state not to indulge in excessive celebrations, Bello told reporters at Government House, Lokoja, yesterday: “I call on my brother, James Faleke, to join hands with me to move the state forward. In a family, there is bound to be misunderstanding. But please, let us not take it too far.”
And to Idris Wada, he said: “He has done his best. He should leave us at this juncture; let us contribute our quota to good governance, so that he also will be proud of the state our founding fathers craved for. I call on him, as a father and as a leader, to allow what God has destined to go on in His own way.”
The court in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Jummai Hanatu-Sankey held that Yahaya Bello was properly nominated by the APC in compliance with Section 33 of the Electoral Act 2010, following the death of Abubakar Audu, who was the initial candidate of the party at the poll.
The appellate court held that the issues raised by Faleke in his petition challenging the nomination of Yahaya Bello as successor to the late Abubakar Audu during the supplementary election of December 6, 2015 was an internal affair of the party, which was expressed by the party in the substitution.
