Faleke: We campaigned for Buhari but he is rewarding Bello’s cronies

James Faleke, a house of representatives member, says the federal and Kogi state governments have marginalised the Audu/Faleke political family.

In a statement on Wednesday, Faleke said despite working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to win elections, members of the political family had not been given appointments.

He said Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi, gave appointments to members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while APC members in the state “that laid the golden eggs were left to lick the wounds”.

Faleke, who was the running mate to the late Abubakar Audu, APC governorship candidate in the November 2015 governorship election, said the APC in Kogi was more divided than before.

“My heart bleeds over the macabre dance of unimaginable treachery and victimisation of patriotic and loyal members of APC who actually campaigned and won the governorship seat for the party in the state that was cruelly gifted Alhaji Yahaya Bello,” Faleke said in a statement issued on his behalf by Duro Meseko, his spokesman.

“Unfortunately, the most culpable party is  the federal government that is supposed to play the role of father to all.

“Till date, not a single federal appointment has been extended to our members, rather the appointments go to cronies of the governor, who knew next to nothing as to the energy and toil we put into the campaigns that won the APC both the presidential and governorship elections in the state among others.

“Most worrisome is the disturbing trend of marginalisation of Kogi west in these federal appointments. I would not be wrong to conclude that the good people of Kogi west, where I hail from are being ruthlessly punished by the powers that be as part of a bigger bizarre political script to completely shut me and my supporters out of reckoning.

“It is unfortunate that the group that campaigned and won the election for President Muhammadu Buhari in Kogi state when Yahaya Bello and his supporters were busy campaigning for PDP is being made to suffer untold persecution even at the presidency, the reasons best known to the actors.”