By The leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State is aiming to reduce the influence and power accorded to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in the state.
The leadership of the party in Kogi state in a statement jointly signed by the leaders of the party from Kogi West, Alhaji Suleiman Ejibunu and Chief Richard Asaje.
According to the statement, the State Executives would not accept James Faleke nomination as a replacement to the Late Minister of state for Labour, James Ocholi, who died last year March in a fatal road accident.
It also stated that if President Muhammadu Buhari accepts Faleke’s nomination, it would lead to unrest in the party.
The statement reads, “Faleke and his godfather, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu do not deserve any ministerial slot in Kogi State. Such a move may lead to the exit of every prominent, loyal and committed member of the party, while aggravating the fractionalisation of the party along many divides.
“We are also unequivocally resolute to stop Tinubu’s expansion into Kogi State or any state in the North-Central; we are determined to push out all his cohorts from Kogi come 2018/2019. It is a task that must be done through all legal/political means. They have failed and they will continue to fail.”
The APC leaders in the state further stated that, they know not James Faleke in the state as he plies his political trade in Lagos State and was only imposed to the Kogi State APC by Tinubu, as the deputy governorship candidate to the Late Prince Abubakar Audu during the governorship struggle.
The statement also added, “This generated a lot of discomfort to the founding members of APC who built the party, fought the then sitting government in all national elections and won.
“Giving him such an appointment will amount to providing him fuel to the breakup of APC in the state.
“Faleke alongside Honourable Buba Jibril in the West Senatorial Area of Kogi State have formed illegal party structures and lay claim to stakeholder structure for which a petition is already before the national leadership of the party.”
