Supporters of Hon. James Faleke and Alhaji Yahaya Bello yesterday, clashed at the National Secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja over the stalemated Kogi State governorship election.
Policemen had to rely on soldiers, Civil Defence corps and more reinforcement to restore peace as the three major tribes, Igala, Igbira and Okun, unleashed terror on each other. The APC National Working Committee (NWC) was meeting with the leading candidates on the replacement for the late Prince Abubakar Audu for the December 5 supplementary election.
Stones and other weapons were freely hauled with many combatants sustaining serious injuries. Cars and other property were damaged by the rampaging riotous supporters that arrived at the APC headquarters with buses.
Trouble started when Audu’s running mate in the November 21 poll, Hon. James Faleke, stormed the headquarters with his supporters, grounding traffic to the APC secretariat on Blantyre Street and chanting different war songs.
The Bello group which had stationed itself at the other end of the street poised for war, responded with anti-Faleke songs, resulting in clashes that almost overwhelmed policemen and other security agencies posted to control the rampaging crowd. Three protesters with severe injuries were evacuated.
It took the arrival of the reinforcement of a special squad from the Force Headquarters and soldiers to restore sanity.
When the NWC meeting ended, it was obvious that it was stalemated as Faleke who addressed journalists rejected the decision of the party to endorse Bello as the candidate for this weekend’s supplementary election, insisting that he is the governor-elect.
His words: “I got the invitation for the meeting through text messages and letters. The issue of Kogi State was paramount in the mind of our national leaders especially our national chairman, who wanted solution to the situation.
“But, after meeting for about two hours, we discovered that the meeting we were invited for was just a mere briefing instead of the meeting we should be invited to deliberate on the way forward for the party. We were only briefed on the position of the party that they have nominated Alhaji Yahaya Bello as candidate for the party.
“We, however, made it clear that as political family of the late Abubakar Audu, we are not going to accept the decision. I told the chairman in clear terms that I have submitted a letter to INEC this morning distancing myself from that position and that I don’t want to be associated with the decision of the party to pair me with Bello because I am already governor elect.
“We have made it very clear that if they go ahead to conduct the election, it will be challenged in the court of law since I have pulled out of it. We are certainly going to challenge it and we will not be talking to Nigerians if the party has toed the path of honour of going to court to challenge INEC, but it decided otherwise that the party will not go to court. I told them if the party cannot go to court, we have taken it upon ourselves to defend our rights to challenge that decision,” he stated.
Back in Lokoja, the state capital, hundreds of Igala and Okun-Yoruba political leaders and elite yesterday gathered at the residence of the late Prince Audu to support Faleke as the APC governorship candidate and Audu’s son, Mohammed, his running mate.
Among the dignitaries were former Minister for Police Affairs, Humphrey Abah, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant, Jubrin Isah Echocho, past and current political office holders, and opinion leaders, among others.
Abah called on the APC national leadership not to impose Bello on the state, saying the people have overwhelmingly voted for Audu/Faleke in the election and the mandate must not be thwarted.
He stated it was morally and legally wrong for APC to pick Bello, who he claimed worked against his party during the election which made the PDP to win his polling unit, Ward and local government during the election,saying Bello refused to attend all the APC campaign rallies even when the Vice President came for the rally in his local government.