INEC holds Kogi supplementary election December 5

It all started with the declaration of the Kogi governorship election as inconclusive, owing to the fact that the margin of votes between Audu Abubakar and Governor Idris Wada was lesser than the number of cancelled votes.

Their spokesman, Daniel Isah, who is the vice chairman of APC in Kogi East, said they had resolved and were determined to back Mohammed Audu to replace his father when the National Working Committee orders fresh primaries.

Subsequently, INEC scheduled the fresh poll for December 5 and asked APC to replace Audu.

The electoral commission has declared the election inconclusive, citing irregularities and violence that led to the cancellation of the election in 91 polling units across 18 LGAs.

“Caucus also alerts that the AGF, INEC and APC are creating a scenario where a loser in a primary will patiently wait for the winning candidate to finish election and then have him either poisoned or assassinated before the final collation of results”.

Speaking through his lawyer, Wole Olanipekun, he urged the ruling party to support him in achieving his mandate, rather than nominate another candidate.

“In law and logic, no new candidate can inherit or be a beneficiary of the votes already cast, counted and declared by INEC before that candidate was nominated and purportedly sponsored”, the letter read.

The party also said the proposed supplementary election would no longer be necessary as APC is not backed by either the constitution or electoral laws to substitute its candidate within the election period.

Faleke made this position known in a letter to INEC, obtained on Thursday by Premium Times.

“With the unfortunate death of Prince Abubakar Audu, the APC has no valid candidate in the election, leaving INEC with no other lawful option than to declare the PDP candidate, Capt. Idris Wada as the victor of the election”, the communiqué said.

According to the APC, Faleke is a Lagosian of Kogi ancestry who served as chairman of a local government in Lagos state and is now a legislator representing a constituency in Lagos state, hence his rejection.

The politician added that INEC had no right under the law to announce the poll inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the African Democratic Congress(ADC), one of the political parties which participated in last Saturday’s election, has faulted INEC’s decision on the rerun.