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.
