Faleke, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Secretary for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, made the appeal in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.
He stressed that zoning the ticket to Kogi West would give the people a sense of belonging for equity’s sake.
The race to replace Bello gathered momentum in January when his Chief of Staff, Abdulkareem Asuku; Auditor General, Ahmed Ododo and Commissioner for Local Government and chieftaincy affairs, Salami Ozigi-Deedat paid N50m to pick up their nomination and expression of interest forms at the APC national secretariat in Abuja.
Other aspirants for the race include Faleke, Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Murtala Ajaka, and the senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Smart Adeyemi.
The latest move has got political pundits wondering if Bello would be willing to sacrifice his deputy governor, Edward Onoja, who has never hidden his intention to become the next leader for a candidate in Kogi West for the sake of equity.
But Faleke believed zoning the ticket to Kogi West is the only way to erase the memory of watching other regions occupy the governorship seat since the state was created in 1991.
According to him, the agitation for the region to become the next governor is gradually bringing aggrieved supporters of the APC together.
He added that the ruling party cannot afford to be in the opposition ahead of the November governorship poll.
The APC chieftain further explained that there are several states in Nigeria where governorship positions are rotated among senatorial districts without strains of bitterness, distrust or disunity.
He said, “For equity, justice and fairness, it is only reasonable to lend my voice to the call by many that our great party, the All Progressives Congress should ensure the candidate for the governorship election emerged democratically from Kogi West. For a heterogeneous state such as Kogi, giving all parts of the state a sense of belonging is key to peaceful coexistence among the several ethnic groups in the state.
“For more than 16 years, our brothers from the Eastern Senatorial District held sway in Lugard House through Late Prince Abubakar Audu, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris and Captain Idris Wada respectively. Kogi Central by the end of the tenure of Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello would have been in the saddle for 8 years, uninterrupted. While not discounting the right of those concerned to contest for any office, I believe that the time has come to be just and fair to all.
“The clamour for power shift pre-2015 by Kogi West and Kogi Central was to correct the marginalization of the two districts in the governorship seat. My position is not premised on any sense of entitlement but on the ideals of equity and fairness which late Abubakar Audu preached before his untimely death. The victory of our great party, APC in 2015 especially in Kogi West was the avowed commitment of Late Prince Abubakar Audu to ensure power shifts to other parts of the State.
“What should be of importance is our collective quest and preparedness to engender a united Kogi State for socio-political and economic prosperity. The realization of a long-term dream of a state that is secure and prosperous with its diverse demography peacefully coexisting should be paramount in our minds. This can only happen if we collectively decide on fairness, equity and justice. The weird equation of 16:8:0 must be corrected and the right time to start is now with the coming election.
“As a party, we must go into the November 2023 elections with a common sense of purpose devoid of insensitive and unbridled ambition. I hereby appeal to my brother, His Excellency Yahaya Bello to recall the circumstances of his ascension to power and do all within his sense of reasoning as the leader of the party in the state in ensuring he doesn’t toy with this rare opportunity to be on the positive side of history. Just as the Progressive Governors of our party made history before the APC national convention, those names will remain written in gold. “
