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Confusion as INEC declares Kogi guber poll inconclusive
* APC guber candidate dead
From: Fidelis Mac-Leva, Usman Bello & Itodo Daniel Sule, in Lokoja
A gale of confusion and anxiety pervaded Lokoja, the Kogi State capital yesterday following the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission that Saturday’s governorship election was inconclusive.
This was further heightened by reports that the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr. Abubakar Audu, was dead.
The online medium which made this known in a terse statement on its website said: “Audu died of undisclosed medical reasons shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared his victory at the elections inconclusive.”
Results earlier declared by the Returning Officer, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, had indicated that Abubakar Audu of the All Progressives Congress scored 240,867 while Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party garnered 199,514 votes.
However, Professor Kucha said the margin of votes between Audu and Wada is 41,353, hence the election was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units in 18 local government areas, where election was cancelled was 49,953, a figure which he explained is higher than the 41,353 votes with which Audu is ahead of Governor Wada.
The returning officer further said by INEC guidelines, no return could be made for the election until a supplementary election is held in areas where the election was cancelled.
“Going by the INEC approved guidelines and regulations for the conduct of the 2015 election on pages 22 and 23, paragraph 4 section M, the Returning Officer is directed to act whenever the margin of win between the two candidates is not in excess of the total number of registered voters in polling units where elections were cancelled, the returning officer is to decline to declare a winner until another poll is conducted in those areas and the results computed into a new form, form EC8E.
“Applying the provisions of the above quoted guidelines therefore, the number of registered voters in the polling units where results were cancelled or not held is in excess and consequently, this election is therefore declared inconclusive”, he said.
The collated results had shown that the APC candidate had an edge over his PDP opponent in 21 local government areas of the state, scoring 41,353 more votes.
The local governments won by Audu are: Ofu, Ida, Kabba Bunu, Yagba East, Yagba West, Adavi, Koton Karfi, Ankpa, Okehi, Ajaokuta, Ijumun, Olamaboro, Igalamela, Bassa, Lokoja, and Ibaji. The PDP was victorious in five local governments namely Ogori Mangogo, Omala, Okene, Dekina and Mopa-Moro.
No constitutional logjam on Audu’s replacement-Okoye
By Ismail Mudashir
Constitutional lawyer, Barrister Festus Okoye, yesterday said there is no logjam on the constitutional provisions on replacement of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu, who died yesterday.
Okoye who is the Executive Director, Human Rights Monitor, said there are two provisions of the law that are relevant to the issue.
“The first is Section 36(1) of the Electoral Act as amended. It says if after the time of the delivery of nomination papers and before the commencement of poll, a nominated candidate dies, the chief national electoral commissioner, that is, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) or the Resident Electoral Commissioner shall, being satisfied with the fact of death, counter-man the poll, that is, call off the poll in which the deceased candidate was to participate and the commission shall appoint some other convenient dates for the said election which shall be within 14 days.
“Now in this particular instance , the time for the delivery of nomination papers has passed and a poll has taken place, the only issue here is that the poll is inconclusive because a supplementary election has to be organised in a few of the polling units. So what is going to happen is that the supplementary election will take place and the election will be made conclusive,” he said.
According to him, ‘ the operative provision will now be Section 181 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which says’, “ If a person duly elected as governor dies before taking and subscribing the Oath of Allegiance and Oath of Office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as deputy governor shall be sworn in as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy- governor who shall be appointed by the governor with the approval of a simple majority of the House of Assembly of the state”.
Okoye while stressing that the candidate cannot be replaced, said; “For me, that is exactly what should happen because by the provisions of Section 36(1) of the Electoral Act, they cannot replace anybody now. Moreover, the contest is that of political parties and not necessarily that of the candidate.
“The candidates are only torchbearers of the parties and that is why if you look at the ballot paper, the names of the candidate are not on it, it is the logo of the political parties that you will find on it. So, the electorate is more or less voting for the parties and the candidates are only the conveyors of the wishes of the party,” he said in a phone interview last night.
Mixed reactions trail INEC’s verdict
There were mixed reactions from a cross section of Kogi people following the decision by INEC declaring the elections inconclusive.
A chieftain of the APC, Alhaji Linco Ocheje, said the APC would still win the re-run election whenever it is conducted, saying they only postponed the party’s celebration.
Ocheje who spoke with our reporter yesterday while reacting to the INEC declaration said the re-run was to fulfil the electoral Act and INEC guide lines.
According to him, since the party was leading, there is no way they would not win the re-run election in the about 59 polling units where results were cancelled.
While alleging that the PDP sponsored thugs had snatched ballots in the polling units where the election was cancelled because they were already losing to the APC, Ocheje said: “We are not afraid because as far as we are concerned the election is a forgone exercise. We have won already. Even if we stay at home, will the entire registered voters in those units all came out to vote? Will they not also vote for us? They only postponed the APC celebration.”
But the PDP hailed the decision. A chieftain of the party, Bar. Muhammed Umar, said the decision was an indication that democracy is having it root in the country.
Bar. Umar who said the decision was sound in law because the difference between the two candidates is lower than the registered voters in the polling units where results were cancelled and in order to determine the true winner, election has to be conducted because the votes can still alter the results for either party.