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Kogi Governor, yahaya Bello was earlier today sworn in without a deputy.
The man listed to be his deputy by his party, the APC, James Faleke, declined because he felt he was supposed to inherit the votes of late Abubakar Audu.
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.