IGBOZURUOKE MEDIA

By Boniface Alanwoko

Prince Abubakar Audu, the All Progressives Congress APC, gubernatorial candidate for the November 21, 2015 Kogi State election died on Sunday, November 22, 2015, under suspicious circumstances. The two-time governor who was gunning for a third term to govern the Confluence State was said to have slumped and died after most of the results of the previous day’s election in which he was leading Idris Wada, the PDP’s candidate was announced but the election declared inconclusive due to what the electoral umpire, INEC, describes as unsettling electoral developments.

Another source however, said he slumped first and thereafter started to vomit blood and later died while  efforts were being made to ferry him to Abuja and possibly outside the country for appropriate medical attention. This may have giving right to the suspension of his early burial according to Muslim rites until further inquiries into his sudden death are concluded.

Prince Audu’s death has thrown confusion into the ongoing Kogi’s election and has also raised some constitutional issues as his sudden death in an inclusive election was not envisaged and captured in both the current electoral laws and the 1999 Nigerian constitution.

His party, the APC and those who had been close to him have expressed shock and are anxiously waiting to know what could be the cause of such death. Most of his friends and people from Kogi State are referring to him as a great Nigerian who contributed immensely to the development of the Confluence State. Meanwhile, Capt. Idris Wada (retd.), the governor,has declared a 3-day mourning period in honour of a former governor of the state and candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in the Saturday Governorship election..