The sudden death of Prince
Abubakar Audu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) in Kogi State , on Sunday, 22nd November, 2015
has undoubtedly ignited a constitutional crisis. The tragic news which was
first published by SaharaReporters has instigated controversy on what will be
the possible legal implications or consequences of his death.
*Audu
Among the issues
arising from the death of Prince Audu are the following:
1. Whether
the running mate to Prince Audu and the APC deputy governorship candidate can
assume the position and status of the deceased as the candidate of the APC;
2. If the
question in 1 above is answered in the negative, can the APC substitute the
deceased as its governorship candidate; and
3. Whether
it is legally permissible in the circumstance for the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to cancel the inconclusive election of Saturday
November 21st 2015 and conduct a fresh throughout Kogi State .
This is
unarguably a novel case. This is the first time in the course of a democratic
transition that a validly nominated candidate of a political party in Nigeria will
die after an inconclusive election but before and without paricipating in the supplementary
election. It is unprecedented. The result is that there is no precedent that
can be referred to which could aid in the resolution of the present case.