PDP told INEC to Declare Idris Wada as Kogi Governor Elect

The Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, after its
National Caucus meeting in Abuja, has called
on INEC to declare its candidate, Capt Idris
Wada (retd.) as the winner of the November 21 Kogi governorship elections.
APC’s candidate, Abubakar Audu was poised to win the elections but gave up the ghost before
INEC declared

the elections inconclusive.
INEC on Tuesday had also decided to allow the
APC replace him with another candidate, adding
that it would hold the supplementary election
on December 5.
The PDP in a communique signed by Olisa
Metuh has rejected the decision, Punch reports.
“In order to save the nation’s democracy from
imminent collapse, the PDP as a critical
stakeholder will immediately challenge this
unlawful and unconstitutional decision by INEC
in the court.
“With the death of its candidate, Prince
Abubakar Audu, the APC has legally crashed
out of the governorship race as no known law
or constitutional provision allows the
substituting of candidates, once the ballot
process has commenced.
“With the unfortunate death of Prince
Abubakar Audu, the APC has no valid
candidate in the election, leaving INEC with
no other lawful option than to declare the PDP
candidate, Capt. Idris Wada as the winner of
the election.”
“We completely reject the decision of INEC in
yielding to the unlawful prompting of a clearly
partisan Attorney General of the Federation,
Mallam Abubakar Malami, to allow APC to
substitute a candidate in the middle of an
election, even when such has no place in the
Constitution and the Electoral Act.
“(PDP) Notes that the combine reading of the
provisions of the Constitution and Electoral Act
do not in any way whatsoever support the
substitution of candidates for election in the
middle of the ballot process.
“(PDP) Notes that if APC is allowed to
substitute its original candidate, then the
party would have fielded two separate
candidates in the same election, a scenario that
is completely alien to our electoral laws and to
any known democratic norms and practice world-
over.”
The communique added that the caucus has
demanded the immediate resignation of the
chairman and all national commissioners of
INEC to pave the way for a new non-partisan
commission to conduct the forth-coming
elections.