₦airaland Forum

Following the news of the demise of the All Progressive Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, Audu Abubakar in Kogi state on Sunday, lawyers across the country has stated that there is a lacuna as the constitution did not make provisions for such an occurrence According to them, there is an obvious oversight and grave omission of such circumstances in the Nigerian constitution and to move forward, the doctrine of necessity may have to come in. 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.
tribuneonlineng.com/no-constitutional-provision-for-audus-death--lawyers

Well we learn every day in this profession of ours. The Constitution and Electoral Act cannot envisage every scenario. Lets see how the situation pans out in the next couple of days/weeks

FirstCounsel:
Well we learn every day in this profession of ours. The Constitution and Electoral Act cannot envisage every scenario. Lets see how the situation pans out in the next couple of days/weeks

And I don't think there is anything like judicial precedent. I'll leave it in the hands of the bench and INEC.

Bekwarra:
And I don't think there is anything like judicial precedent. I'll leave it in the hands of the bench and INEC.

Exactly sir