Kogi Election: APC Angry Over INEC's Decision

The All Progressives Congress has criticised the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare the November 21 gubernatorial election in Kogi state inconclusive, a decision that has been rejected by its legal experts.

he APC candidate, Abubakar Audu, who is now deceased, was leading the poll before the INEC declaration, causing the party to resort to legal advice over the impasse. It was learnt that the ruling party is planning to write to the INEC on its position within the next 48 hours and the APC believed that its candidate should have been declared the winner of the poll, The Nation reports. A source close to the party’s top chiefs said the party had assembled legal luminaries who were said to have been combing the 1999 constitution as amended, the Electoral Act and Guidelines for the 2015 General Elections ahead of a presentation of the party’s position. The source said: “Our party is of the opinion that the Returning Officer, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, erred by not declaring its candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, the winner of Saturday poll. ”We have assembled a team of senior lawyers to advise the party on the way forward. They have been meeting since some of our leaders returned from Kogi State on the way forward. READ ALSO: We’ll Not Abandon Our Candidate – APC Mourns Audu “Our preliminary findings revealed that although Kucha said there are 49,953 registered voters in 91 polling units, those actually eligible to vote with Permanent Voter Cards are actually 25,000. “We think that Kucha, being an academic, was not well-guided by the National Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kogi governorship poll, Mrs. Amina Zakari, and the State Resident Electoral Commissioner.” Meanwhile, INEC said it would apply available legal provisions on the recent development of the governorship election in the state.