Confusion Over Kogi Governorship Election

Today, November 25, major Nigerian dailies are focused on the confusion in Kogi state following the sudden death of Abubakar Audu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in last Saturday’s election.

The election had been declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), though Audu was already taking the lead in the polls.

Daily Sun reports that the electoral commission has fixed December 5, for the conduct of a supplementary election for the inconclusive governorship election in the state.

The commission also ordered the APC to get someone else to fill the vacancy created by the death of their candidate.

The electoral body came to this decision after several hours deliberation by the consortium of legal luminaries and the eggheads of the commission comprising the chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and the five other national commissioners in Abuja yesterday

According to the commission the duration given for the conduct of the supplementary was to give the APC ample time to fill the vacancy created by Audu’s death.

The Nation reports that the APC has decided to conduct another primary election to replace the late Audu, who died before the election was declared inconclusive.

Speaking at news conference, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, the national chairman of the ruling party said the party will hold an emergency session “within the next few hours” to determine the modalities for the primary.

On what will become of Audu’s running mate Abiodun Faleke, he said: “I said it will be the preference of the electors that will determine who the candidate that will replace Prince Abubakar Audu will be.”

Mallam Abubakar Malami, the minister of Justice, said the Kogi gubernatorial election must be concluded within the next 14 days, Vanguard reports.

According to him, he reached this decision after a combined reading and application of Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 33 of the Electoral Act.

He said: “The issue is very straightforward. Fundamentally, Section 33 of the Electoral Act is very clear that in case of death, the right for substitution by a political party is sustained by the provisions of Section 33 of the Electoral Act.”

Malami stated that the decision of the party on the new candidate would be based on the outcome of the primaries from which Audu had earlier emerged as the party’s representative.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is opposed to this decision and wants the Attorney General of the Federation to immediately resign from office over his position on the inconclusive governorship election in Kogi state, The Punch reports.

The opposition also wants the INEC chairman, Yakubu, to resign from office for what it described as his inability to exert the autonomy of the commission in the face of the confusion created by Audu’s death.

Chief Olisa Metuh, the national publicity secretary of the PDP said: “The party is shocked that INEC, a supposedly independent electoral umpire, could allow itself to succumb to the antics of the APC by following the unlawful directive of an obviously partisan AGF to substitute a candidate in the middle of the ballot process.”

Tributes and condolences have continued for the late Audu, The Guardian reports.

The state Governor Idris Wada, who was represented at the burial by his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi described Audu’s death as “a painful loss not only to the state but the country at large.”

The governor commiserated with the people of Kogi, particularly the family of Audu and all members of the APC, urging them to take solace in the fact that the former governor’s footprints on the sands of time remained indelible.