‘I was not invited to Bello’s inauguration,’ Faleke

Embattled Deputy Governor elect of Kogi state, Mr. James Faleke’s absence at Yahaya Bello’s inauguration, has raised questions, whether all is well.

A cross section of Nigerians also reacted to the incident.

You will recall that Faleke refused to abide by the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) choice of Bello to fly the Governorship elections, when Prince Abubakar Audu died.

However, the man in the eye of the storm, said he was not invited to the inauguration.

According to Punch, Faleke, in an interview with Channels Television said “I am speaking before Nigerians and I am making it very clear that nobody reached out to me. Nobody from our party’s national secretariat or the state secretariat of our party ever reached out to me on this issue.

“The only time they every reached out to me was on December 31… when the chairman of our party announced the decision of the National Working Committee to all of us to say the NWC had adopted Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the governorship candidate for the December 5 election.”

He also said “Thereafter, there was no consultation until today. I want to make it clear that the party chairman, Chief John Oyegun, that we saw as a father has decided to champion a cause that is anti-people. That is why we were not invited.”

“For me I see what has happened in the party as a civilian coup d’état. It is a civilian coup d’état because if such a situation happens in the military, those behind it will face the firing squad,” he said, adding that the best way forward was to head to the court,” Faleke said.

Read: "How Audu died," eyewitness speaks

James Faleke’s was the running mate of Prince Abubakar Audu who died on Sunday, November 22, 2015, after reportedly suffering a stroke.