By Ikechukwu Nnochiri & Boluwaji Obahopo

ABUJA—Faleke had gone before the tribunal to challenge the legitimacy of Yahaya Bello’s emergence as the Governor of Kogi state.

He queried the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to declare him as the valid winner of the governorship election in Kogi State.

Faleke, who is currently representing Ikeja II Federal Constituency, Lagos, in the House of Representatives, through his team of lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, contended that the initial election had produced a winner in late Prince Abubakar Audu, saying his death arrogates to him, the status of governor-elect.

Insisting that he had a joint ticket with late Audu, Faleke argued that INEC should not have declared the election inconclusive since they had already secured enough votes to warrant the declaration of a winner on the basis of the total number of votes that were cast.

He therefore prayed the tribunal to declare that INEC acted wrongly when it declared the outcome of the November 21, 2015, governorship poll in Kogi State inconclusive.

Both the petitioner and the 2nd respondent, Bello, belong to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

However, in their unanimous judgment yesterday, the three-man tribunal headed by Justice Halima Mohammed, held that Faleke could not be declared governor considering that his party, the APC, never nominated him as its substantive candidate for the 2015 Kogi governorship election.

The tribunal, which conducted its proceedings in Abuja, maintained that under the law, the political party, APC, had the right to nominate or choose its candidate for the election.

It said the party did not act in breach of either the 1999 Constitution, as amended, or the Electoral Act, when it nominated Yahaya Bello to replace the late Audu as its candidate in the December 2015 supplementary election.

Besides, Justice Mohammed who read the lead verdict, held that Faleke had no locus-standi to institute the action since he was not nominated by the APC as its governorship candidate.

Reacting to the judgement, Governor Bello said it was a victory for the people of the state, who had been yearning for meaningful development for many years.

The governor, who spoke in Lokoja, the state capital after the tribunal’s verdict, however, said with the judgment, he would be glad to receive Faleke to enable him contribute to the development of the state.

He said: “Since my mandate is from the almighty Allah I have no doubt in my mind that, we are going to have this victory today, it is a victory for the people of Kogi State, it is a victory for our party.

“It was a judgment between me and my brother, honourable James Faleke, he is not my opponent, we belong to the same party and it is just an explanation that he sought from the court and court has given its own explanation to him, he is my brother, he should come and join me.”