The many unfulfilled dreams of Abubakar Audu who died on the verge of history.

■APC Kogi guber candidate slumps, dies at 68
■His last moments
■Gov. Wada declares 7-day mourning
■INEC declares poll inconclusive

…What the law says

WITH the death of Prince Abuba­kar Audu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Kogi State gover­norship candidate in last Saturday’s election, many questions have been raised: What will become of the governorship election, which was declared inconclusive by the Inde­pendent National Electoral Com­mission (INEC)? Will INEC order a fresh election? Will Audu’s running mate, James Falek, become gover­nor when the election is eventually concluded?

Section 181 of the 199 constitu­tion says: “If a person duly elected as governor dies before taking and subscribing to the oath of Alle­giance and oath of office, or is un­able for any reason whatsoever to be sworn in, the person elected with him as deputy governor shall be sworn in as governor and he shall nominate a new deputy governor, who shall be appointed by the gov­ernor with the approval of a simple majority of the House of Assembly of the state.”
SECTION 181 (2), on its part, states: “Where the persons duly elected as gov­ernor and deputy governor of a state die or are for any reason unable to assume of­fice before the inauguration of the House of Assembly, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall immediately conduct an election for a governor and deputy governor of the state.”

And Section 33 (2) of the Electoral Act 2014 (as amended) says: “If the can­didate whose name was submitted to the Commis­sion dies or withdraws from the election, the political party, which nominated the candidate, shall forward to the Commission the name of the aspirant, who scored the second highest number of votes at the primaries as the substitute candidate.”

Audu’s sudden death has opened a new vista in the nation’s electoral law.

The Electoral Act did provide for the death of a candidate in an election, but Audu’s scenario was not provided for.

What the law provides for was that in the event a candidate dies before an election, the election will be put on hold for 30 days to enable the candidate’s party get a replacement.

The constitution also provides that in case a duly elected candidate dies or resigns, the law allows that his/her running mate takes over.

The latter scenario was what happened in 1999 when former vice president Atiku Abubakar resigned as a duly elected governor of Adamawa State to take up the position of the vice pres­ident. His running mate, Boni Haruna was sworn in his place. But Audu’s sce­nario was neither provided for in the constitution nor in the Electoral Act.

More cumbersome to the development was the fact that the election has been declared inconclusive by INEC, leaving Audu’s run­ning mate, James Faleke in the cold.

Former speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mikail Azeez Alarape, said the Audu’s death is a big lacuna as no provision was made for such incident.

But former chairman of Ikeja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Monday Ubani, said the party was the beneficiary of election not the candidate, adding that Audu’s deputy would carry on with the supplementary election.

Although Ubani agreed that the Audu’s case was not provided for in the Electoral Act, he cited the case of Rotimi Amaechi v FGN to buttress his point.

However, Nigerians look up to the electoral umpire for a way out.