The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Yahaya Bello

  • Yahaya Bello fills nomination form as APC candidate for Kogi poll

    Yahaya Bello fills nomination form as APC candidate for Kogi poll

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) has given its Kogi State governorship nomination form to its new candidate, Mr. Yahaya Bello, to fill.

    The development may have foreclosed the consideration of any other candidate as the party’s standard bearer.

    Bello filled the form, which was signed by a Commissioner of Oath. It was returned to the APC National Secretariat.

    It was learnt that the form was attached to the letter of nomination, which the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, sent to INEC on Friday.

    The party retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as running mate – a position Faleke rejected, insisting on the mandate the people gave the late Abubakar Audu/Faleke ticket.

    A top officer of the party said: “We are in receipt of many petitions but it is already late for anybody because we have nominated Yahaya Bello as the party’s substitute for  Prince Abubakar Audu.

    “Of course, we have automatically retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as our deputy governorship candidate.

    “As a matter of fact, we gave the nomination form to Bello to fill on Friday and we have duly submitted all relevant documents to INEC.

    “You can direct further enquiries to INEC and Bello, who is now our candidate.”

    It was gathered that APC rushed to give the form to Bello, despite the fact that it has up till December 1, to pre-empt legal action especially court injunction.

    A member of the NWC said: “We hastily concluded the nomination process to stave off any court injunction which may hinder the party’s chances for the supplementary poll on December 5.

    “We took advantage of Friday to seal the process because any of the aggrieved parties could rush to court before Tuesday and allow the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to emerge winner of the Kogi Governorship Election on a platter of gold.

    “If we do not check the dirty war over the substitution of our candidate, APC may be the ultimate loser.”

    When contacted, a media aide to Bello said: “It is true that our principal has filled the governorship nomination form as presented to him by APC and we are aware that the form has been submitted.”

    A source in INEC also confirmed the submission of the form. “Yes, it has been submitted,” he said pleading not to be quoted.

  • Yahaya Bello is PDP agent, group alleges

    Yahaya Bello is PDP agent, group alleges

    •Exposes how he delivered unit, ward, LGA to PDP

    The Kogi State Progressive Front (KPF) yesterday alleged that the new governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Yahaya Bello is an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    It accused the National Working Committee (NWC) of APC of ‘selling’ the hard-earned victory of the party to PDP.

    It expressed disappointment with the leadership of APC for adopting Bello who shunned the party’s governorship campaign in Kogi State.

    The state coordinator of the Group Alhaji Yakubu Ogirima told reporters that Bello worked for PDP during the November 21st gubernatorial election.

    According to him, “We are strong supporters and members of the APC and we can never fold our arms and watch our victory being   sold to our political enemy who worked against us during the last election.

    “Alhaji Yahaya Bello was among the 28 APC aspirants who contested the last Primary election that produced the late Prince Abubakar Audu. We are also not oblivious of the fact that he (Bello) came second even though he disputably scored the votes he had.

    “But we are constrained  to inform you that Yahaya Bello never participated in the APC governorship campaign, but rather worked and campaigned against the APC. Little wonder why he delivered his polling unit, ward and local government (Okene) to the PDP in the last election.

    “Here are the election results from Yahaya Bello’s Unit and Ward:  Agassa /Ahache /Okene Eba  unit 11, APC got 88 while the  PDP scored 119. Then in his ward, APC 1146 and PDP 2058.

    “Now that our candidate Prince Audu is dead, Bello has the gut to spoon feed the APC national leadership so they can give the mandate he previously worked against to him. What an irony! Imagine someone working in a bank but collecting salary in another bank.”

    Yakubu who described the action of the party NWC as shameful and derogatory, said the ‘change’ preached by the party was being eroded by hunger and greed.

    He asked the APC leadership to return the mandate to late Prince Audu’s running mate, James Abiodun Faleke .

    “Faleke jointly owned the party’s ticket with Audu and subsequently the victory. This is all we demand. Or else APC will be history in Kogi State,” he added.

     

  • APC picks Yahaya Bello as Audu’s replacement

    APC picks Yahaya Bello as Audu’s replacement

    After extensive consultations, the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday submitted the name of Yahaya Bello as the party’s new candidate for Kogi governorship supplementary poll.

    Bello replaces Prince Abubakar Audu, who died last weekend after leading the poll with 41,000.

    It was also learnt that the APC has retained Hon. James Abiodun Faleke as the party’s deputy governorship candidate.

    Mohammed Audu, the son of the late governorship candidate, was dumped by the party because the party felt that fielding him might vitiate the entire governorship poll in the state.

    But the people of Kogi West were mounting pressure on Faleke yesterday not to accept the nomination of Bello.

    Although they asked Faleke to withdraw from the race, the deputy governorship candidate was yet to make up his mind on the next step at press time.

    Investigation by our correspondent revealed that APC leaders, with the backing of some forces in the Presidency, opted for Bello because he came second in the party’s primaries behind Audu.

    It was also gathered that the APC leaders felt there was no way Mohammed Audu could be fielded as a compromise candidate since he was not a candidate in the primaries.

    A top source in APC said: “Our leaders met and after consultations reached a conclusion on the choice of Yahaya Bello from Kogi Central as the party’s governorship candidate to substitute the late Prince Abubakar Audu.

    “The leaders arrived at the conclusion because Bello was second to Audu at the validly conducted governorship primaries of the party. Instead of running into crisis with fresh primaries, the party opted to dust up the result of the previous one which was witnessed by INEC.

    “A letter, signed by the National Chairman of APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on the choice of Bello has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday.”

    Asked of other factors behind the choice of Bello, the top APC leader said: “Our leaders bought into the idea that Faleke is strange to the politics of the state, having had most of his political career in Lagos. They felt it is better for him to learn the ropes in the state before becoming a governor.

    “They also argued that the choice of Bello will ensure power shift in the state and since the Ebiras were behind Audu, it won’t be difficult to foster understanding between Kogi East and Kogi Central Senatorial Districts.

    “Do not forget that Kogi East had already produced the minister from the state.

    “Another important factor is that some of the 91 polling units where elections were cancelled are in Kogi Central, and it will be easier to mobilize the electorate in the district to get the required votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Governor Idris Wada.

    “There was also some conspiracy behind the refusal of the ticket for Faleke. Some presidency forces stamped their feet that he must not be allowed to step into Audu’s shoes because of internal power struggles in APC.

    “I won’t give you names but the forced were more powerful than Oyegun and other NWC members.”

    On the dumping of Mohammed Audu, the source said: “Our leaders were guided by Section 141 of the Electoral Act. If we choose him, the entire election will be voided.

    “The section says: ‘An election tribunal or court shall not under any circumstance declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of such election.

    “We love the Audus but we cannot take such a big risk. If Wada and PDP go to court, they will win against Mohammed Audu.”

    As press time, there was pressure on Faleke by the people of Kogi West to opt out of the race.

    A different source said: “There are many options open to Faleke but the people of Kogi West want him to withdraw from the race. If Yahaya Bello gets the ticket, he might be reduced to a dummy deputy governor.

    “Unless Faleke can fight his cause in court and claim his mandate, he will be frustrated as a deputy governor. If he quits, the party will have justification for bringing Mohammed Audu and Kogi West will be politically alienated.”