Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, on Tuesday in Abuja said the party would pick a new candidate to replace the late Abubakar Audu in the Kogi State governorship election.
Speaking at a news conference, Odigie-Oyegun said the leadership of the party would go into closed-door session immediately to pick a date for a fresh primary to pick the candidate.
This comes as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that it would conduct supplementary election in the 91 units where election was cancelled on Saturday on December 5.
The new date was announced via a statement signed by the secretary to the commission, Augusta Ogakwu.
Audu died on Sunday and his death was announced shortly after INEC declared the governorship poll, which was conducted in the state on Saturday, inconclusive.
The commission also said APC was at liberty to replace its late candidate in the race.
Some legal experts, including Festus Keyamo, had argued that Audu’s running-mate in the inconclusive election, James Faleke, should automatically replace him.
According to Odigie-Oyegun, though mourning, APC will go into the meeting in the next few hours to decide a date for a fresh primary to choose another candidate to contest for the number one seat in Kogi State.
He said: “The first point I have to make of course is that INEC has made a pronouncement as to the election being inconclusive.
“As at this moment, we are yet to get anything in writing from INEC specifying the details of the polling units that are involved.
“These are matters of details.
“When we get a formal notification from INEC, we will proceed on that point.
“It’s in the public space already that the chief law officer of the republic has made his views known on how things should develop from this stage on.
“He has made a pronouncement to the effect that all that is required is for the APC to go through the processes of providing a substitute to our late candidate.
“The implication being that thereafter the supplementary elections to conclude the process of electing a new governor of Kogi State will be put in place.
“So as a party, we going to proceed with the process of organising a primary to provide a substitute candidate to the late Abubakar Audu.”
The chairman explained that because INEC had also said the party was at liberty to pick a fresh candidate for the rescheduled election, “that is why we are pressed for time.
“We just got the letter today.
“We don’t have the luxury of time.
“We are going to go through a due process to ensure we pick a candidate in a matter of hours.”
Odigie-Oyegun added that the running mate to the candidate that would emerge would be a “matter for the electors to decide and the party will respect their decision on who the next running mate will be”.
