On Sunday evening, the online newspaper SaharaReporters broke the story that the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the just concluded (and controversial) Kogi election, Mr. Abubakar Audu has passed away due to “undisclosed medical reasons.”
Audu – one of two frontrunners for the top Kogi job – had been at the epicenter of a political matchup that gripped the nation in a way only comparable to that April election night in Taraba when the nation held its breath and waited to see if a state had put a woman in charge of one of Nigeria’s 36 ‘Government Houses’ for the first time (turns out that Taraba did, with some important caveats that the courts are yet to sort out). Audu was firmly in the lead as soon as election returns started filtering in, with some media organisations even declaring him the winner of the contest.
Audu’s death comes on the heels of another significant development in the evolving Kogi electoral saga: the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the election was “inconclusive.” What this means for the wider political succession picture in a closely fought electoral race remains unclear.

READ: #TheScoopLegal: Audu’s death: The three options for INEC

By the provision of s. 181(1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended, if a person duly elected as Governor dies before taking the Oath of Allegiance and oath of office, or is unable for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, as governor, the person duly elected with him as deputy governor shall be sworn in as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy governor who shall be appointed with the approval of a simple majority of the state House of Assembly.
In the highly unlikely event that the persons duly elected as governor and deputy governor die or are unable to assume office before the inauguration of the House of Assembly, INEC is empowered by s.181(2) to “immediately conduct an election.” The law seems fairly straightforward on this point, except that this scenario is not of the straightjacket variety.
Audu was not conclusively returned as governor. He has no Certificate of Return from INEC. By the Commission’s inconclusive election announcement, it is legally mandated by Section 68 of the Electoral Act to conduct a supplementary poll in those local governments it determines to be contributors to the ‘number of votes cancelled exceeding the number of votes by which Audu had established a lead’ over his Peoples Democratic Party rival, incumbent governor, Idris Wada – a deficit that is 8,600 votes strong.
Which leaves us in general, and the people of Kogi in particular, with a few searing questions. What does INEC do next? Will the APC contest the Returning Officer’s ‘inconclusive’ announcement? If INEC orders a supplementary vote pursuant to its announcement, which candidate will the APC field? On this last question, expect some very interesting legal commentary on sections 31, 33 and 36 of the Electoral Act as amended to flood the papers and social media in the coming days.
Whatever the uncertainty may be, one thing is clear at this point, if Kogi intended to get rid of Idris Wada at the ballot box, they are stuck with him for some time to come.

by

Ikemesit Effiong Esq.

http://www.thescoopng.com/thescooplegal-audus-death-will-open-a-can-of-worms-in-our-electoral-laws/

Cc @Ishilove

hmmm.... good thinking

APC should adopt a new candidate as the election conducted cannot stand in the eye of the law.

Nice one... Meanwhile Audu successfully wasted our hard earned 11billion naira.

Let's hear from Barrister Ubani and co

The former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja chapter, Onyekachi Monday Ubani told Nigerian Tribune that the matter is a serious one considering that there are no constitutional provisions for such matters “This is a serious one that the constitution did not envisage. There are no precedents to such an occurrence and if we talk about the party choosing another candidate, we also have to consider that the period for selection of candidate has elapsed; there is a time limit for such things. But I think that in this case, the deputy will have to go for a fresh election “If we go by the Supreme Court’s ruling on Rotimi Amaechi’s case where it was held that the party and not the candidate is the beneficiary of elections. So I believe the deputy will have to go for elections and if he wins, he will now choose a deputy. “This is a serious omission and the law needs to be amended quickly,” Ubani concluded Another human rights lawyer, Ikechukwu Ikeji Esq. also aligned with this. According to him, there are no known provisions for this scenario. “There are no laid down rules or provisions for this, the constitution never imagined such an occurrence, the only similar provision to this is Section 36 of the Electoral Act which indicates that if a candidate dies before the polls, INEC should cancel and postpone the election for 14 days. “But now that the election is already underway, the situation is different. In my secular view except further research contradicts what I have said, there should be a fresh election with the deputy or they should go to the Supreme Court for interpretation.” Also speaking, Barrister Olusayo Adeleye stated that there are no provisions for such and consequently, there will have to be a fresh election with Honorable James Abiodun Faleke, the deputy stepping in as the gubernatorial candidate Barrister Kayode Ajayi also stated that since there are no provisions in the constitution, the APC will have to look for another candidate. The doctrine of necessity comes in since the vacuum needs to be filled. The law didn’t envisage this but there must be a way out. Remember when Atiku Abubakar as governor was chosen to be the Vice President, his deputy, Bonny Haruna stood in as the Governor and selected another deputy. Barrister Taoheed Asudemade was also of the same opinion. He stated that since there are no provisions, the APC will have to look for another candidate while INEC will conduct another election. His death has nullified the one that is on-going.

Remember electoral laws recognized that party not candidate is being voted for.

this is a very serious case,been tryna analyse d situation with my friends over here and it seems its a dead end situation. even the constitution mks no provision for this kinda scenario


A fresh election is the surest and feasible option,Faleke standing in as APC candidate and picking a deputy

ziccoit:
Remember electoral laws recognized that party not candidate is being voted for.

Tell that to the taraba gubernatorial election tribunal

TSNG:


Tell that to the taraba gubernatorial election tribunal

Nobody died among the contestants in Taraba now.