Breaking News: Kogi APC Governorship Candidate Audu Abubakar Dies After INEC Declares Election Inconclusive

The governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Saturday’s Governorship election in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu has been confirmed dead.

News of Abubakar’s death filtered in following the announcement of election results believed in many quarters to have been won by him judging from preliminary results. However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) through the Returning Officer, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, declared the Kogi State governorship election inconclusive.

Kucha had said INEC’s decision was reached after collation of results showed a number of cancelled votes — 49,953 — that was higher than the margin between the leading candidate and the runner-up.

After votes in the 21 local councils were collated on Sunday, the APC candidate, Abubakar Audu led with 240,867 votes, while the incumbent Governor, Captain Idris Wada of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) got 199,514 votes.

A young politician who spoke to Information Nigeria on phone from Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, while asked to confirm Audu’s death said: “So, we heard. Rumour has it that he died of a heart attack. But we are not sure of anything yet.”