Senate solves riddle 0ver sudden death of wining candidate after election

Senate on Thursday offered a way out of the confusion that may arise from sudden death of a governorship candidate in an election already conducted and which result is being awaited.

This came as the Senate added a new provision in the Electoral Act which enables the affected political party to hold a fresh primary to elect a replacement within 14 days of incidence of death of its candidate.

The Senate amended the relevant part of the Electoral Act on the issue against the background of the political turmoil that trailed the death of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, shortly before official announcement of the last Kogi State’s governorship election result.

Audu’s then running mate, Hon James Faleke, was denied the opportunity to take his place and sworn in as the Governor of Kogi State after the incident.

The replacement of Audu with Yahya Bello by the APC had sparked some problem within the political circles both in Kogi State and Nigeria, prompting Honourable Faleke to challenge the party’s decision in court

For clarity, however, Section 3 which the Senate just inserted into the new Electoral Act read: “If after the commencement of poll and before the announcement of the final result and declaration of a winner, a nominated candidate dies, (a ) the Commission shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, suspend the election for a period not exceeding 21 days; (b) the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh direct primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit a new candidate to the Commission to replace the dead candidate; and (c) subject to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, the Commission shall continue with the election, announce the final result and declare a winner.”

The new bill also provides a legal backing for the use of manual voting in situations where card readers malfunctioned. Whereas the manual option has always been adopted as an alternative to the malfunctioning of card readers, the new provision is meant to make the action legally valid.

According to the new amendment on use of electronic card, once the presiding officer at the election is convinced that the intending voter is the owner of the voter card, he should go ahead to accredit him in place of the electronic option which may have collapsed in the main time.

Thus Section 49(1-4) of the Electoral Act being amended provides that:

“The Presiding Officer shall use a Smart Card Reader or any other technological device that may be prescribed by the Commission from time to time for the accreditation of voters, to verify, confirm or authenticate (a) the genuineness or otherwise of the voter’s card; (b) that the voter’s card presented by the voter is registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented; (c) the biometric connection or otherwise of the intending voter with the voter’s card; and (d) the number of duly accredited voters in the polling unit.

 “(3) An intending voter shall not be accredited to vote in an election if the voter’s card presented by him to the Presiding Officer is not (a) a genuine voter’s card issued by the Commission to the intending voter; (b) registered at the polling unit in the constituency in which the card is presented, and (c) biometrically connected to the intending voter.

 “(4) Notwithstanding paragraph (3) (c) of this section, the Presiding Officer on being satisfied that an intending voter is the owner of the voter’s card, may accredit the intending voter to vote in the election.”

The Senate, however failed to pass the bill which is sixth amendment to 2010 Electoral Act, because it did not conclude its clause-by-clause consideration and hence, deferred further consideration of it till another legislative day.