The Kogi State supplementary governorship election has ended, with electorates awaiting the results of the exercise.
The election was held in 18 out of 21 local governments in the state, as decided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after the earlier election of November 21.
Votes cast at some polling units on November 21 in the 18 local government areas were cancelled by INEC for over voting and other related reasons.
Results from at least 10 out of the 18 local governments are ready for collation at the headquarters of the INEC in the state, Channels Television’s correspondent, Lanre Lasisi said.
According to him, the INEC had told reporters it would begin collation of the results from the local governments late Saturday night.
The supplementary election was scheduled after the INEC declared the November 21 election inconclusive.
A Twist To The Process
Kogi election had drawn huge attention after a candidate’s death brought a twist to the process.
After election results from the 21 local government areas were collated on November 22, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), late Abubakar Audu, was leading while the incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailed by a margin less than the number of cancelled votes.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress had 240,867 votes while that of the PDP got 199,514 votes.
The commission said 49,953 votes were cancelled, which was higher than the margin between the leading candidate and the runner-up.
Before the election was declared inconclusive, news about the death of the candidate of the APC filtered in. Issues were raised about the provision of the law for the substitution of a candidate who died during an electoral process.
After several days, the INEC asked the APC to substitute its candidate before the date for the supplementary election.
The decision of the INEC was contested by the incumbent governor, who is seeking a second term in office and candidates of other political parties.
But the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said it was constitutional for the APC to substitute its candidate, citing section 33 of the Electoral Act.
That section reads: “No political party shall be allowed to change or substitute its candidate whose name has been submitted pursuant to section 31 of the Act, except in the case of death or withdrawal by the candidate”.
Suits were filed at a Federal High Court in Abuja by the aggrieved parties, but the court dismissed their suits, saying it lacked jurisdiction. It said that only an election tribunal had the right to adjudicate such cases.
