BEVERLY HILLS, June 06, (THEWILL) – The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has ruled that the running mate to the late Abubakar Audu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the November 21 2015 election, James Faleke, lacked the locus standi to file petition challenging the election of the incumbent governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
Delivering judgment in the suit filed by Faleke asking the tribunal to declare as lawful the substitution of Bello as the APC candidate following Audu’s death, the tribunal ruled on Monday that Faleke could not be declared Governor because he did not participate in the APC primary.
Justice of the tribunal, Halima Mohammed, who delivered the judgment, held that Faleke was not nominated by the APC as its substantive candidate in the governorship election, hence the party was right to have nominated Bello to replace the late Audu as its candidate in the December 2015 supplementary election.
While dismissing the petition for lacking in merit, the Mohammed-led three-man panel declared that “votes cast in an election belong to a political party” which nominates a candidate; hence it was lawful for the party to transfer votes polled by Audu to Bello.
The tribunal however held that Faleke remained the valid deputy governor of the state since there was no evidence to show that he wrote to his party withdrawing his candidature as deputy governor as required by law.
