ABUJA – Unconfirmed reports indicated yesterday, that Prince Abubakar Audu, former gover governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the inconclusive Kogi State Governorship election that held on Saturday, is died.
According to reports, the former Kogi governor died of undisclosed health reasons shortly after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Saturday’s governorship in the state as inconclusive.
The APC candidate was on the verge of a sensational return to the Kogi Government House before INEC ordered a supplementary election in some local government areas because of perceived irregularities. 49, 953 votes were cancelled by the electoral commission.
Before the announcement, Audu was leading his closest challenger, Idris Wada, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 240, 867 votes to 199, 514.
Audu was said to have died earlier yesterday, but his death was kept secret by his family and associates according to additional reports from Kogi State.
The Returning Officer of the election, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, had declared the election inconclusive because the number of votes cancelled was more than the number of votes with which Audu led incumbent governor, Capt. Idris Wada.
The victory at the poll was meant to have allowed Audu to become the governor of the state for the third time.
A former banker, Audu, 68, had first been elected as governor of the state in 1991 – serving from 1992 till 1993, under the abortive third republic.
After five years of military rule, he was elected again under the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party (APP) and governed the state from May 1999 to May.
“On a general note, the election process went well across Kogi State, with election officials turning up and carrying out their responsibilities in most polling units visited,” election monitoring group, Situation Room, said in a statement on Sunday morning.
Wada had, however, criticised the conduct of the electionon Saturday after his accreditation and again after voting, informing journalists that there was a plot to undermine the outcome and scuttle his chances.
If reports of Audu’s death is true, he would be buried today according to Islamic rites.
