Candidate in the middle of an election, even when the candidate had become permanently indisposed, by the reason of death can be substituted.
The right to substitute party candidate in an election was adequately provided for in section 221 of the Nigeria constitution 1999 as amended especially when it's read in community with sections 33 and 36 of the electoral act of 2010 as amended.
Section 33 of the electoral law allows for substitution of candidate by political party, while section 36, subsection 1 provides for the period and consequential relief’s that should follow the substitution.

This is where LEGISLATIVE INTENTIONS comes in.
One of the strongest factors to consider in the interpretation of statutes under the common law jurisdictions is LEGISLATIVE INTENTIONS, that's reading into what could possibly be the wishes or intentions of the legislators at the time of drafting the said statutes or law.
The right questions at this juncture should be,what was the state of mind of Nigeria legislators that drafted the 1999 constitution and the electoral law with their amendments, at the time of writing those laws?
Were they drunk?
were they sadists?
Or were they seniles? that all the rights and privileges so enjoyed by a leading political party, with a victory bound candidate like APC and the late Prince Abubakar Audu,to be EXTINGUISHED, simply because the candidate died in the middle of an election?.
This is a serious factor that MUST be considered by the jurists in the determination of this case.

I know justice Halimat as a first class jurist of TRUTH,IN FACT AND ON THE BENCH,I don't expect her to void a popular mandate on the mere fact of SEMANTICS, ipso facto, ipso jure!
Let's look at it the other way round. If not God Almighty ,who had resolved the matter the way He did, and the APC had made the mistake of fielding Faleke instead of Bello, what will be our lot in kogi state? a long drawn legal battle that would have brought Bello into government in the Amaechi fashion.
Again, Rotimi Amaechi vs PDP supra refers, and also check Njoku vs Goodluck Jonathan in the eligibility suite against president Jonathan in the wake of 2015 presidential election.
4.Finally on the electoral process being compromised in the favour of APC.I have heard the rhetoric’s of some forensic evidence (from the moon) to prove that the said election was rigged in favour of APC, that some electoral materials meant for another state was found in kogi, and was used illegally for APC.

I was in kogi state at the time of campaigns and all through the elections, and it was glaring to all reasonable members of the society to see that governor Wada ,as he then was, was going to have a great fall at the elections, which he indeed had, he suffered a massive defeat in the hands of the electorate.
If indeed it's proven that such incidence happened at the elections, then it must be minimal, because we all saw the popularity of APC and her candidate at the election and the issue of non-compliance being raised cannot be used to void Bello's election.
Under the applicable laws, compliance at elections is not TOTAL,but SUBSTANTIAL, Muhammadu Buhari vs Olusegun Obasanjo is a case in point. In the case of kogi gubernatorial elections,PDP vs APC,the non-compliance is NOT sufficiently SUBSTANTIAL to void the election of Bello.

Beyond the beautiful drama at the tribunal by chief Olanipekun and Chris Uche all SAN, the media hype and the exuberance of the ignorant few as it were,I personally do not see a contrary outcome in the cases.


Ujah Simon
Writes from
Kogi State

The law is like an ass.....
Let the better have the day, oh God!
May God bless Kogi State.