Emmanuel Thomas
November 23, 2015 – The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) will very soon make known the way forward for the Kogi election following the death of governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress(APC), Prince Audu Abubakar, which has created a lacuna and a constitutional crisis.
Abubakar according to his son, died shortly after INEC declared the Kogi election inconclusive, even as he was alreadly leading in 18 out of the 21 local governments.
INEC Returning Officer, Emmanuel Kucha, a Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, had said that Audu scored 240,867 while Wada garnered 199,514 votes.
He added that the margin of votes between Messrs Audu and Wada is 41,353, and that the election was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units, in 18 local government areas, where election was cancelled is 49,953.
“That figure is higher than the 41,353 votes with which Mr. Audu is ahead of Mr. Wada”, he said.
But speaking on the lacuna created by sudden passage of Audu, INEC Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Nick Dazang said INEC is meeting and that it will address issues in the the electoral act and make decision after consulting with a team of senior lawyers after which the whole matter will be laid to rest.
He added that INEC will also review the electoral process in Kogi after which it will issue a timetable for the election.
