WThe sudden death of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu, has thrown the state’s governorship election into fresh uncertainty, with his running mate, Hon. Abiodun Faleke, now at the centre of attention.
Audu died suddenly on Sunday, shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the November 21 governorship election inconclusive.
INEC had declared the election inconclusive after results from 91 polling units across 18 local government areas were cancelled because of reported irregularities during the election.
Before the election was declared inconclusive, the APC candidate was leading his closest rival, the incumbent governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Idris Wada.
Results announced by INEC showed Audu with 240,867 votes, while Wada had polled 199,514 votes, giving the late APC candidate a lead of 41,353 votes.
The 91 polling units where results were cancelled had a combined 49,953 registered voters. However, preliminary information indicated that only about 25,000 voters in the affected units had collected their Permanent Voter Cards.
With the election yet to be concluded, attention has now shifted to what happens to the APC ticket following Audu’s death.
One of those whose political future has suddenly come under intense focus is Abiodun Faleke, the APC deputy governorship candidate and a prominent political associate of the party’s national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Faleke’s emergence as Audu’s running mate had previously attracted attention because of his strong political ties to Lagos, where he built his political career and served in various capacities.
He is from the Okun area of Kogi State but spent much of his political career in Lagos. Faleke served as a two-term chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area and later became a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ikeja Federal Constituency.
While serving as a council chairman, he was also chairman of Forum 57, an association of local government and Local Council Development Area chairmen in Lagos State.
With Audu’s death coming before the Kogi governorship election could be concluded, the APC now faces the immediate question of how the party’s ticket will be handled and who will emerge as its candidate for the final stage of the electoral process.
For Faleke, the development has suddenly placed him at the heart of one of the most closely watched political developments in Kogi State.
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