Keyamo: Audu’s running mate should take over

Festus Keyamo, a legal practitioner, says following the death of Abubakar Audu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Kogi state governorship election, Abiodun Faleke, his running mate should be given the ticket of the party.

The legal implication of Audu’s death on the election has been interpreted in different ways, with Olisa Agbakoba, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), suggesting that a fresh election be conducted.

Though Keyamo admits that the issue at hand is complex, particularly because it is unprecedented, he argued that Faleke is entitled to the votes of Audu because they both had a joint ticket.

“The real question agitating the minds of everybody is the legal implication regarding the inconclusive governorship elections at the time of his demise. To state it correctly he was said to have died AFTER the announcement of the results by INEC and after INEC had declared the elections inconclusive,” the lawyer said in a statement.

“Admittedly, this is a strange and novel constitutional scenario. It has never happened in our constitutional history to the extent that when an election has been partially conducted (and not before or after the elections) a candidate dies. What then happens?

“This is a hybrid situation between what happened in the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna in 1999 and the provision of section 33 of the electoral act, 2010.

“In the case of Atiku Abubakar/Boni Haruna [which is now a clear constitutional provision of section 181(1) of the 1999 constitution (as amended)]  the Supreme Court held, in effect, that ‘if a person duly elected as governor dies before taking and subscribing 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’.

“In the case of section 33 of the electoral act 2010 it provides, in effect, that if a person has been duly nominated as a candidate of his party and he dies before the election then the political party has the right to replace him with another candidate and not necessarily the deputy governorship candidate.

“Now, does the Kogi situation fit into section 181(1) of the constitution as quoted above or section 33 of the electoral act mentioned above?

“My simple position is that the Kogi situation fits more into section 181(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and as such James Abiodun Faleke automatically becomes the governorship candidate of the APC.

“This is because even though the election in inconclusive, votes have been counted and allocated to parties and candidates. As a result the joint ticket of Audu/Faleke has acquired some votes already. “James Abiodun Faleke is as much entitled to those votes already counted as much as the late Abubakar Audu. He has a right to cling to those votes going into the supplementary election.

“There is only one problem, though. Who nominates Faleke’s deputy? Unlike section 181(1) of the 1999 constitution, he cannot approach the house of assembly of the state to approve a nomination by him of a deputy.

“This is because, in reality, he is not duly elected yet. Therefore it is only reasonable to conclude that it is APC (Faleke’s political party) that should submit the name of a fresh deputy governorship candidate to INEC for the supplementary election.

“This is the only position in this situation that accords with reason and good sense.”

The news of Audu’s death came after INEC had declared the election inconclusive in line with the provision of the electoral act which states that the number of cancelled votes must not be more than the margin between the two leading candidates.

From the results released, the APC candidate secured 240,867 votes ahead of Idris Wada, the incumbent governor and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 199,514 votes, leaving a difference of 41,353.

The number of cancelled votes was 49,953.