Paper Review: Bloody Clash As Faleke Rejects Ballo's Choice

The major issues of focus in the five Nigerian daily newspapers under review today, Tuesday, December 1, are mostly on the choice of Yahaya Bello over James Faleke to replace the late Prince Audu Abubakar on the platform of the All Progress Congress in the Kogi state governorship election.

The major issues of focus in the five Nigerian daily newspapers under review today, Tuesday, December 1, are mostly on the choice of Yahaya Bello over James Faleke to replace the late Prince Audu Abubakar on the platform of the All Progress Congress in the Kogi state governorship election.

As the altercation brews in the party, many are still asking to know what the law really says about who should take over the position of the late APC candidate. There is obviously no provision in the Nigerian constitution (CFRN 1999) and the Electoral Act 2010 relating to this present circumstance.

Now what do you think, is it the running mate or the first runner up in the party’s primary election held prior to the general election? However, Some legal luminaries have also taken pen to paper to explain what the law says.

In the light of this, with the rejected of the position of a running mate, do you think James Faleke is actually fighting for his seeming right to be sworn in as the APC candidate or is he just being unnecessarily desperate to clinch on the seat?

Below are some of the reports by Nigerian newspapers.

The Punch newspaper has it as its major headline today. It reads: ‘Feleke, Bello’s supporters in bloody clash at Abuja APC Headquarters’.

It reports thus – Violence erupted at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Monday, November 30, as supporters of the new Kogi state governorship candidate of the party, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, and James Faleke’s loyalists engaged themselves in a bloody clash.

Faleke was the running mate of the late APC governorship candidate in the November 21 election in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Audu.

Faleke who spoke to reporters at the party secretariat in Abuja, argued that going by the votes cast in the inconclusive Kogi governorship poll, he ought to have been declared governor -elect notwithstanding the fact that election in 91 polling units were cancelled by the independent national electoral commission.