February 25 Senate: INEC considers Postponement

<h4>February 25 Senate<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission&comma; INEC&comma; is considering postponing the Enugu East Senatorial District election on account of the death of the Labour Party&comma; LP&comma; Senate candidate for the February 25 election&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The electoral body has promised to abide by the provisions of the Electoral Law on the death of a candidate before the commencement of an election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The commission was reacting to enquiries on the killing of Labour Party &lpar;LP&rpar; senatorial candidate in Enugu East Senatorial District&comma; Oyibo Chukwu&comma; who was killed by gunmen on Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The development has prompted the LP to ask for poll shift in the area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu said once the commission is informed of the candidate’s death and the commission is satisfied&comma; it would countermand the election for two weeks&comma; as provided for in the electoral law&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Yakubu&comma; who addressed reporters ahead of the commencement of the general election&comma; said the concerned party had not informed the commission about the death of its candidate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The INEC chairman said another candidate for the senatorial election died in Kano recently and that INEC was duly informed by the party concerned&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said the party forwarded the name of another candidate for the election&comma; adding that the election for that senatorial district would go ahead with the name of the new candidate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Citing Section 34 of the Electoral Act&comma; Yakubu said such a postponement could only be done if the political party involved officially notifies the commission&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;There are procedures to handling such an issue&period; In such a situation&comma; the commission will have to countermand the senatorial district for two weeks&period; The section can only be activated if the party involved officially notifies the commission&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Section 34&lpar;b&rpar; stipulates that in the case of election into a legislative House&comma; the election shall start afresh and the political party whose candidate died may&comma; if it intends to continue to participate in the election&comma; conduct a fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit the name of a new candidate to the commission to replace the dead candidate&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Provided that in the case of presidential or gubernatorial or Federal Capital Territory Area Council election&comma; the running mate shall continue with the election and nominate a new running mate&comma;” the section says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;