#KogiDecides: The death and the inconclusive election

It happened between a father and his son. There was consistent wailing from the son and attempt to pacify him was becoming frustrated.

 "Junior! Please stop crying, i said i will give you tomorrow!" This statement eluded more wailing, the son rolled on the floor with deafining noise tormenting the calmless of the father.

The father was confused and determined to halt his son idiosycracy, he cuddled him son, "I said i will give you tomorrow", With steady gaze , the boy retorted in comnanding tone"I want it now!".

With bewilderment, the father could not fathom the intricable tendency of his son in doubting the existence of tomorrow! The son had relied on his father habitual manner of playing with words.

The father often failed to keep it promise, making the word unrealiseable, the next day would surely bring to the forth the clamouring for tomorrow!

It seems the concept of tomorrow has eluded the mental faculty of those saddled with the responsibility of preparing and channelling an appreciable progress for the future.

It is a plague ravaging peculiar to Africa and inevitably Nigeria. The aftermath is continuos crises with endless riddles On November 21,2015 in Kogi state, electorates trooped out in multitude to elect their governor for the next four year.

The contest was between the incumbent governor, Idris Wada and the forner governor, Prince Audu Abubakar. While Wada contested under the platform of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Audu picked the tent of the All Progressive Congress (APC) After the election held under the watchful eyes of both the international and domestic observants, the battle was shifted to the collation center.

The revelation at the collation center evinced the intrigue and intricacy nature of the election with incessant cases of over voting and violence in some part led to the cancellation of the votes cast in 19 units.

When the total votes of the whole 21 local goverment areas were finally collation, it was discovered that the gap between the leading APC candidates, Prince Audu and Gov Wada was below the total sum of the total number of registered voters in the 19 units cancellation.

The INEC, the chief umpire, wielded its big stick by declaring the whole process inconclusive. Just as the whole country was asssimulating and analysing the scenerio, tragedy struck. The man leading in the election, Prince Audu died.

This has triggered off an avalanche of legal arguments brought about by constitutional lacuna. Had the results were declared before the demise of Prince Audu, Section 181(1)of the Nigeria constitution would have been invoked. By virtue of this, his running make, Hon Abiodun Faleke would have assumed a new status of Governor elect.

How ever, APC has been adviced by some legal practioners to take solace in section 33 of the electoral act.
The section provides, in effect, that if aperson 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. It makes a stark silence on the methods of presenting a new candidate.

The legal logjam of the scerio has brought to the fore the incapability of both the drafters of the Nigeria constitution and the electoral act their obvious impotency of making provision for the future! Othere wise their ingenuity should have been comprehensive and details not minding the macabre disposition it might appear to the citizenry.

The Kogi scenerio has brought more poisers:what would happen if after the election both the winning governorship candidate and his running mate or the winning presidential candidate and his running mate meet their untimely end?

Or if the unexpected happen to them on the way to be sworn in.
Our present phenomenon shows our inconsistent with the future and rare attempt at averting tomorrow.

By Ademola Tijani

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