Why we opted for Audu’s replacement – INEC … Says AGF’s pronouncement was mere coincidence
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday said the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, did not influence its decision to allow the All Progressives Congress (APC) replace its late governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, ahead of the supplementary polls in Kogi State.
The electoral commission added that it was mere coincidence that the remarks of the AGF on the issue came the same day that INEC decided on the matter.
The deputy director of publicity of the commission, Mr Nick Dazang, said that the commission relied on extant laws, appreciation of unique circumstances, wide consultations with some of the best of Nigeria’s legal minds and international best practices before issuing its notice.
It further described the call for the resignation of the INEC chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, over the decision to offer the APC the opportunity to replace the late Prince Abubakar Audu as its candidate, as unwarranted and grossly misplaced.
The commission had, in a public notice to the 22 political parties that participated in the November 21 governorship poll, fixed the supplementary election on December 5 and granted the APC the opportunity to replace its candidate ahead of the supplementary polls.
But the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had kicked against the decision to allow APC replace Audu and questioned the independence of INEC, accusing it of taking the cue from a biased AGF.
The opposition party also called for the resignation of the both the AGF and INEC chairman.
But Mr Dazang said: “It is a mere coincidence that the attorney- general’s remarks, issued ex tempore, came on the same day as INEC’s. Consequently the demand for the chairman’s resignation is unwarranted, uncharitable and grossly misplaced.”
Supplementary Poll: APC Leaders Meet PMB, Decide On Kogi Today
Rising from its meeting which lasted all night and ended in the early hours of yesterday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to take a final decision on who replaces its late governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, for the supplementary governorship election in Kogi State on December 10, 2015, today.
The late Audu died shortly after the results of last Saturday’s governorship poll in Kogi was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The APC leaders met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja, last night to brief him on the outcome of the meeting.
LEADERSHIP gathered that after the meeting, the party resolved that it would suspend taking a concrete decision on when to conduct its primary that would produce the late Audu’s replacement until after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari to brief him on the outcome of their meeting and get his advice on the way forward.
Besides, it was also learnt that another meeting scheduled for yesterday by the national leadership of the party to work out modalities for its primary election for the Kogi supplementary governorship election was postponed.
National chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun, who spoke to journalists at the national secretariat of the party, said the meeting was postponed in honor of the late HID Awolowo whose burial coincided with the emergency meeting.
He stated that most party stakeholders who were supposed to be in the meeting went to Ikenne, Ogun State, for the burial.
According to him, the meeting would hold today’s afternoon.
“The meeting did not hold again today (yesterday). Almost of those who were supposed to be part of the meeting are not around. They are all attending the burial of the late Chief Mrs Awolowo. The meeting is likely to take place on Thursday afternoon,” Oyegun said.
LEADERSHIP recalls that INEC had declared that it would allow the APC to use its discretion to fill the vacuum created by the death of its governorship candidate in Kogi State, thus confirming that INEC had heeded one of LEADERSHIP’s postulations – that it invoke the doctrine of necessity in the matter on the grounds that the issue in Kogi is time-bound, since everything had been programmed by INEC to terminate at a specific time. The incumbent governor, Idris Wada, vacates office by January 27.
The paper had also reported that the APC may pick from among James Ocholi (SAN), and Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who all contested the party primary in August, as well as Audu’s running mate, Hon James Faleke, and Isah Jibrin Echocho who had joined the party after losing out in the rival PDP, as replacement for the late Audu.
Audu’s supporters warn against imposition of wrong candidate
Following the decision of the APC to conduct a fresh primary election to select Audu’s replacement, supporters of the late governorship candidate of the party have warned that they would not tolerate the imposition of any unpopular candidate.
Maintaining that any attempt to impose any candidate on the people would spell doom for the party, Audu’s supporters alleged that APC was trying to support a particular candidate.
At the hometown of the late Audu where the third day fidau prayer for him was being marked in his compound in Orego Ogbonicha, Ofu local government, the supporters were said to have started a protest to show their displeasure over the development.
The situation has been worsened by the fact that posters of Abiodun Faleke, AVM Atawodi and Yahaya Bello were already visibly dominating strategic places in Lokoja, the state capital
The supporters, who called themselves concerned stakeholders and ardent supporters of the late Abubakar Audu, alleged that the plan for power shift had become a matter of force and through hook and crook, which the people have seen as a measure to coerce the people into believing that time had come for other communities in the state to taste power.
They said they were waiting to see how the APC leaders would correct the impasse in Kogi in line with the political cause which Audu suffered for before his final home call.
PPA candidate rejects AGF, INEC’s decision on Audu’s replacement
The governorship candidate of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) in last Saturday’s election in Kogi State, Mr. Emmanuel Enesi Ozigi, has faulted the decision of the attorney-general of the federation, Abubkar Malami (SAN), and INEC that the APC was at liberty to substitute its gubernatorial candidate, the late Prince Audu for the supplementary election.
Ozigi said it was not fair and justiciable for APC to produce a fresh candidate to contest elections for only 91 units with the other candidates who had gone through the rigours of election from the beginning.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja yesterday, the PPA candidate called for a level playing ground for all the contesting parties and their candidates.
Ozigi added that the election was marred with irregularities which, to him, should necessitate a fresh election.
He said, “I will like the whole world to know that Kogi election was highly incredible and marred with flaws and malpractices. So, the fact that 91 polling units were not satisfactorily rendered, it is the whole state that should be cancelled and we should have a rerun. That is my own position and I will make this position known very quickly.
“It’s quite unfortunate we lost one of our strongest opposition, Prince Abubakar Audu. It’s unfortunate and I feel very sorry about that and my heart goes out to the family and the entire people of Kogi State and the nation as whole but, you see, it is not welcoming for the attorney-general to just mention that they should just replace a candidate just like that without seeking to know the implications of the pronouncement.
“The fact is that the attorney-general represents the federal government, but he shouldn’t be partisan. This country belongs to everyone; the state belongs to us that came from that state.
“So, there should be a level playing ground for everybody. That shows that there is neutrality. I am an advocate of credibility. So I expect that the federal government will look at this issue holistically.
“If you just pick someone tomorrow and say he should be the flag bearer for APC; we never contested with that person; the person never went to the field like we did. I transversed the whole state; the person never transversed the whole state. The electors do not know him, or how he is going to be. So how do you just put somebody and say he should just run with only 91 polling booths; that is not representative and I don’t think we will accept it.”
Kogi youth stage protest in Abuja, want Faleke as Audu’s replacement
A group of youths identified as Kogi Youth Vanguard yesterday staged a protest at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja, asking the party to replace the late Audu with his running mate, Hon Abiodun Faleke, as the substantive governorship candidate without conducting a fresh primary election.
Speaking with journalists at the secretariat, spokesman of the group, Bamidele Peters, said it was only right for the party to consider Faleke.
He said, “Though we sympathise with the family of the late APC governorship candidate, Audu Abubakar, and the Kogi electorate who voted for APC, we feel that this mandate is not just for an individual but the entire party.
“We think the election should be allowed to be concluded and that there should be no replacement of the candidate until that is done. The party will, after the election, be able to replace its candidate.
“Our own interest under the circumstance is to ensure that the supplementary election is concluded. Even if the party will want to replace its candidate, it should be after the election and I feel that, if possible, the running mate, Abiodun Faleke, should be allowed to step in to replace the late governorship candidate.
“Section 181 of the Nigerian constitution should be made to apply under the circumstance to enable the party resolve the crisis of substitution in which APC finds itself now,” he said.
