A 5-man panel of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed James Faleke's appeal against the election of Gov. Yahaya Bello as the Kogi State Governor. The court rules that Faleke's case lacks merit. Both are of the ruling APC.
The appellate court had earlier reserved the judgment after hearing submission from all parties involved in the matter.
Counsel
for Faleke, Akin Olujimi, had urged the Appeal Court to set aside the
decision of the Kogi election tribunal and invalidate the election of
Yahaya Bello on the ground that Bello was not properly nominated.
He
submitted that Bello did not undergo all the electioneering processes
as required by law before he emerged as his party’s candidate in the
re-run election.
In
his own submission, Joseph Daodu, who is counsel for Governor Bello,
insisted that the issue of nomination of candidates for election was the
sole responsibility of a political party.
Daodu submitted that
Governor Bello, having been nominated by the APC in compliance with the
existing law and authority of the party remained the candidate of his
party in the election.
Counsel for INEC, Ahmed Raji, asked the
court to uphold the election of Yahaya Bello on the ground that he was
properly nominated by APC as a replacement to Abubakar Audu who passed
away during the election.
The Tribunal
Mr
James Faleke ran as deputy governorship candidate with Mr. Audu. It
looked as though they were coasting to victory before Mr. Audu suddenly
died.
INEC declared the election inconclusive and asked the APC to
nominate a replacement for the deceased. Mr. Yahaya Bello was nominated
and he nominated Mr. Faleke as his deputy, an offer the latter refused.
A
three-man tribunal led by Justice Halima Mohammed, on June 6, held that
Faleke lacked locus standi to challenge Bello’s election having never
been sponsored by his party, the APC, as a governorship candidate in
both the November 21, 2015 election and the December 6, 2015
supplementary poll.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Halima Mohammed,
who read the judgment in the petition filed by Mr Faleke, threw away
the petition for lacking in merit.
She said the fact that INEC
declared the election of November 21, 2015 inconclusive meant no
governor or deputy governor-elect emerged, and Mr Faleke therefore had
no basis to challenge the nomination of Mr Bello to replace the late Mr
Audu.
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