[UPDATED] INEC to hold Kogi supplementary election December 5
[UPDATED] INEC to hold Kogi supplementary election December 5
The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will hold supplementary elections in the 91 polling units where elections were cancelled during Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State on December 5.
The commission also said in a statement by its Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu, that it had resolved to allow the All Progressives Congress to fill the vacancy created by the death of its candidate, Abubakar Audu.
The decision means the supplementary election will be held on the same day as the Bayelsa State governorship election.
INEC’s Deputy Director of Publicity and Voters Educations, Mr. Nick Dazang, had told journalists on earlier Monday that the APC had yet to inform it of the death of its candidate, adding that such a notice must include a copy of Audu’s death certificate.
The commission, however, said in the statement announcing the date for the supplementary election that the APC notified it of Audu’s death on Monday, leading to its decision.
Audu had died aged 68 on Sunday at his hometown, Ogbonicha in Ofu Local Government Area of Kogi State, a day after voting in the election through which he was seeking to return as governor of the state for a third time.
The late APC chieftain was buried according to Islamic rites in his hometown on Monday amid tears with thousands of his supporters and several of political his associates witnessing the event.
News of his death had broken shortly after INEC declared the election inconclusive because the number of cancelled votes was more than the 41,353 votes with which Audu was leading his main opponent, the incumbent governor, Capt. Idris Wada, of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Returning Officer of the election, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, had disclosed that Audu scored a total of 240,867 votes and won majority of votes in 16 Local Government Areas, while Wada polled 199,514 votes and majority of votes in five LGAs.
INEC had promised to apply the relevant laws in taking its decision once notified of the tragic development with Dazang saying, “Once the commission is notified, it will look at relevant clauses of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the Electoral Act 2010 as amended and also the Constitution of the APC itself.
“All these relevant laws will be looked at with a view to determining what to 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 that provide counsel to the commission. We also have a very vibrant legal service department, headed by a SAN.”
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