Kogi swears in Bello as governor without deputy

At exactly 11:59am on Tuesday, Yahaya Bello, governor-elect of Kogi state, took the oath of allegiance as governor of the state.

The oath was administered on him by Nasir Ajanah, chief judge of the state.

However, Bello took the oath of office without a deputy, owing to the refusal of James Faleke, running mate to the late Abubakar Audu, to be his deputy.

Audu was candidate of the the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 21 election. He died shortly after the poll was declared inconclusive, forcing his party to replace him with Bello and ask Faleke to pair with Bello in the supplementary election.

But Faleke, who opposed the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the election inconclusive, argued that he ought to have been declared the governor-elect since he ran on a joint ticket with the deceased.

Earlier on Wednesday, Faleke described the inauguration of Bello as “a rape of democracy“, alleging that there were plans to “announce my name for oath taking at least three times after which they would declare that the deputy governor-elect has absconded”.

Before taking the oath, Bello had said he would not force Faleke to be his deputy since there were other options.

“It’s not compulsory and I cannot force anyone to deputise me, if he doesn’t deputise me, there are options,” he had told Channels Television.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by John Oyegun, chairman of the APC; Tanko Al-Makura, governor of Nasarawa state; Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state; Adebayo Shittu, minister of communication technology; Bukola Saraki, represented by Kabir Gaya, a senator and former governor of Kano and Dino Melaye, senator representing Kogi east.

Bello succeeds Idris Wada, a retired air force officer, who came second in the election.