The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday said it is yet to be formally informed of the demise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, in the Kogi State governorship election.
This comes as the commission was locked in meetings over the outcome of last Saturday’s gubernatorial election in the state. The issues identified were the new date for the supplementary polls. The commission also met with its legal team over the implications of the death of the APC guber candidate.
Audu, who was leading the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and incumbent Governor Idris Wada in the election which was later declared inconclusive by INEC, died suddenly on Sunday in his home in Ogbonicha.
According to INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, “The meetings are still going on. We are still consulting with our lawyers. In the next 24 to 48 hours, we will issue a statement on the matter.
“But mind you, we are yet to be formally informed of the death of the APC candidate. But we are being proactive in tackling the issue.”
INEC assured that it would apply available legal provisions on the recent development over Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi.
Mr Nick Dazang, Deputy Director of Publicity of the commission, who corroborated that APC was yet to inform the commission of the death of the party’s flagbearer in the election, said, “APC has to do proper notification and accompany it with the certificate of death issued by a medical doctor,’’ he said.
He assured that INEC would apply relevant laws in taking a decision on the election immediately it receives official notification of Audu’s death.
He noted that there were legal provisions to address such incidence in the country’s electoral process, adding that when Audu’s death surfaced, INEC, on the directive of its chairman, was already making provision for a supplementary election.
“When something like this happens, the party on whose platform the candidate contested will need to notify the commission; of course, we have heard and read like everyone else, but we need to be notified.
“Once the commission is notified, it will look at the relevant clauses of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2010 and also the Constitution of APC itself.
“All these relevant laws will be looked at with a view to determine what should be done to ensure that whatever is done subsequently is done within the ambit of the law.
“INEC as a law-abiding body will do everything prescribed by the law.
“Thankfully, we have a consortium of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) that provide counsel to the commission. We also have a very vibrant legal service department, headed by a SAN,’’ Dazang said.
The director noted that the Constitution and not the opinion of people, remains the yardstick for the decision of the commission on the election, stressing that there were legal provisions for such incident.
He declined comment on whether the commission would proceed with a supplementary election or conduct a fresh poll in Kogi, but expressed hope that the commission would come out with its position about the election before the end of the week.
He said that the Electoral Act prescribed 14 days for the conduct of supplementary poll.
Dazang assured that the Kogi election would not affect that of Bayelsa as the commission has the capacity to handle the two elections.
“Assuming the two states’ elections coincide, the commission has the resources to conduct them. Don’t forget we have conducted national elections before and we are just talking about election in two states,’’ he said.
He stated that the card reader for the Kogi election were efficient, revealing that available statistics show that less than one percent of the deployed card readers failed.
He noted that out of the 6,066 card readers deployed to the state only 53 malfunctioned during the exercise.
-Leadership