James Abiodun Faleke, chairman, House Committee on Customs on Monday urged Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state to desist from dragging President Muhammadu Buhari into the allegation on double voter registration saga with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Faleke who gave the charge via a statement issued in Abuja, argued that the Governor Bello’s decision to engage in multiple registration with Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not only shameful but conflicts with Mr. President’s principles.
The lawmaker therefore advised Governor Bello to stop dragging the name of the president in the mud and deal with his decision to embark on double registration.
The Kogi lawmaker who reacted to Governor Bello’s statement on a programme aired by the African Independent Television (AIT), denied any involvement in the double registration accusation.
Faleke who disagreed with the Governor, said: “Yahaya Bello should stop using the President’s name to commit illegality. I make bold to tell the Governor that he has disgraced the good people of Kogi with his criminal act of double registration.
“I can confirm that Governor Bello did his first registration in Abuja on January 30, 2011, while he did the second illegal registration on May 22, 2017 at Government House, Lokoja.
“I challenge him to go to Court on this. It is an incontrovertible fact. The Governor ought to have known that for a body like INEC to come up with such a decision, it must have gotten its facts right.
“After the registration, the Governor’s camp in wild celebration to prove that the Governor had succeeded in registering in Kogi state at last, went to town with pictures of the registration process backed by a press release signed by the Director-General of his media team, Kingsley Fanwo explaining why the Governor had to re-register in Kogi.
“It is very unfortunate that the Governor even went ahead to induce some INEC staff to remove the hard-drive from the computer used in committing the illegal registration in order to hide his criminal intensions. I have my facts and I also challenge him to go to court on this,” he added.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
