…to be buried Monday
- Deceased leads in inconclusive poll
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu, has died, close political associates confirmed to The Point on Sunday.
Confirmation of his death also came through the APC NewsAlert, an official website of his party, which stated, “APC governorship candidate for Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, will be buried tomorrow (Monday) in his home town. He hailed from Ogbonicha in Ofu Ugwolawo Local Government area of Kogi State.”
Audu’s death coincided with the declaration of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission as inconclusive.
It was learnt that Audu, a former governor of the state, slumped after suffering a sudden heart attack in the heat of celebrations and was being rushed to Abuja preparatory to being flown abroad, when he died.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared the Saturday governorship election inconclusive, but Mr. Audu was in pole position to be declared winner eventually.
Sources said the death of Audu stalled celebrations at his residence Saturday afternoon.
“As we were preparing for the celebration and awaiting Prince Audu, one politician came and said we should stop drumming,” a supporter said.
Meanwhile, according to results declared by the Returning Officer, Emmanuel Kucha (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi), Audu of the APC scored 240,867 while Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party garnered 199,514 votes.
Kucha said the margin of votes between Messrs Audu and Wada was 41,353. And that the election was inconclusive because the total number of registered voters in 91 polling units, in 18 local government areas, where elections were cancelled is 49,953.
That figure is higher than the 41,353 votes with which APC is ahead of PDP’s Wada.
The returning officer said by INEC guidelines, no return could be made for the election until supplementary elections are held in areas where elections were cancelled.
