Learning the Kogi lesson
The Senate moved recently to learn a lesson from last year’s unfortunate electoral episode in Kogi State. It amended the Electoral Act to provide that where a governorship or presidential candidate dies after an election has been conducted but before the announcement of results, a fresh primary should be held by his or her political […]
The Senate moved recently to learn a lesson from last year’s unfortunate electoral episode in Kogi State. It amended the Electoral Act to provide that where a governorship or presidential candidate dies after an election has been conducted but before the announcement of results, a fresh primary should be held by his or her political party to pick a replacement. According to the change, the affected political party shall within 14 days conduct a fresh direct primary to replace the dead candidate. Senate also provided that in such circumstance, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare the winner of the election.
The amendment of the Electoral Act was sequel to a report of the Senate Committee on INEC read out by its chairman, Senator Abubakar Kyari [APC, Borno North] at the plenary penultimate Thursday which asked the upper chamber to consider the report on the INEC Act (Amendment) Bill 2016.
This amendment to the INEC Act, which provides that the commission shall suspend the conduct of a new election for 21 days when the death of a candidate is recorded after the commencement of an election but before the announcement of result, will put to rest the controversy that arose at the November 21, 2015 Kogi State governorship election where the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Abubakar Audu, died before the conclusion of the election. The development generated legal tussle which was contested from the high court to the Supreme Court as Audu’s running mate, Mr. James Faleke, insisted the he was the right person to inherit the votes of his deceased principal.
The Senate has opted to insert a new Section 3 (a-c) into the proposed Electoral Act which provides that: “If after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a nominated candidate dies, (a ) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days; (b) the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh direct primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to the Commission to replace the dead candidate; and (c) subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, the Commission shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare a winner.”
Of course this is only one of the possible ways in which the Kogi-type situation could be avoided. Last year INEC gave Audu’s party, APC, the opportunity to replace its deceased candidate and it nominated Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who finished second to Audu in the party’s primaries. Yet a third option, which Faleke and his allies pursued, is to automatically upgrade the running mate to fill the vacancy and conclude the election. Even though Faleke’s argument in that respect was thrown out by the courts, it has some political merit since a deputy governor would automatically replace a governor if the election had been concluded. Another matter to consider is, will the election be suspended if any candidate dies, including a fringe party candidate with no chance of winning the poll? Audu’s case became a national sensation only because he was a major party candidate and was on the verge of winning.
There may be no agreement on what is the best option but we agree at least that the National Assembly should move fast and close this lacuna, one way or another. We should also use this opportunity to examine the constitution and electoral act, fish out any similar loose ends and quickly tie them up.