Operatives of the Department of State Security in Abuja on Saturday quizzed Mr. James Faleke and Mohammed Audu for about six hours.
Faleke was the Kogi State deputy governorship candidate to the late Abubakar Audu, who was the All Progressives Congress flagbearer before his sudden death few minutes before the Independent National Electoral Commission declared the election inconclusive.
Faleke named Mohammed, the son of the late Audu as his running mate for the supplementary election as he refused to be running mate to Mr. Yahaya Bello, who was named as Audu’s replacement by the APC.
Unlike Bello, Faleke has refused to pick his Certificate of Return as deputy governor-elect from the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Instead, he has returned to the House of Representatives where he is representing Ikeja, Lagos State Federal Constituency.
He has also filed a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal, asking that he be declared the winner of the governorship election. Sources at the DSS headquarters told our correspondent that the two men were invited following alleged intelligence reports that there were plans to disrupt the transition programme in the state.
The men arrived at the DSS office around 11 am and left around 5pm.
The tenure of the incumbent governor of the state, Idris Wada, ends on January 27. A security source said that there were fears that the supporters of Faleke and Audu could disrupt the handing over ceremony in the volatile state.
A senior operative said, “The two men were arrested based on petitions that they were planning to scuttle the handover ceremony in the state.
“Apart from that, there were reports that the disruption of the 40 days Fidau Prayer for the late Audu was caused by the men. We also asked them questions to clarify this.”
It was learnt that the two men were later released on bail on self recognition and were asked to report back on Monday.
“They have gone home and we are expecting them on Monday for further questioning,” the source added.
But Faleke told one of our correspondents that he was not detained.
He said, “I was not detained by the DSS.I was only invited for questioning by the DSS Director-General, Musa Daura. I got there by 10am and he was engaged somewhere else. By 3pm, we met and we had a friendly chat and left. I was there with Mohammed Audu.”
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