The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Sunday upheld the running mate to the late Abubakar Audu, James Faleke as the Deputy Governor-elect of Kogi State. This is notwithstanding his earlier public announcement of his withdrawal from the supplementary election.
Following INEC’s declaration of Audu’s replacement, Yahaya Bello, the winner of the election, an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at the state collation centre challenged the nomination of Bello as governorship candidate by the APC.
The agent contended that the APC candidate was not “known”, adding that he had no deputy in view of Faleke’s withdrawal from the rerun election.
Responding to this, the INEC National Commissioner, North Central, Amina Zakari declared that Faleke remained Bello’s deputy because his party, the APC, had not withdrawn his nomination even though he had written to the electoral umpire informing it of his intention to pull out of the race.
“Unless the party withdraws a candidate, his letter is not enough, and unless the proper channel is followed ,which is through the party, he remains the running mate” she said, advising the PDP to seek redress in court if not satisfied.
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