2023 Elections: List of Top Candidates Who Have Died ahead of Polls

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, a few of the candidates scheduled to contest for various seats, from Governorship to State House of Assemblies, in the polls have died.

The sudden deaths mean the parties will have to conduct fresh primaries to provide replacements, especially for the governorship seats.

Here is a list of the dead candidates:

Uchenna Ikonne, PDP governorship candidate in Abia state

Uchenna Ikonne, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Abia state, died on Wednesday, January 25.

Ikonne who was a professor and former vice chancellor of the Abia State University Uturu died at the National Hospital Abuja after a brief illness.

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The deceased was said to have died after suffering multiple cardiac arrests.

Alhaji Aliyu Maina, NRM guber candidate in Adamawa state

Also, Alhaji Aliyu Maina, the governorship candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) in Adamawa state, died on Wednesday, January 25.

Maina's death was confirmed on Thursday, January 26.

The Adamawa NRM governorship candidate was reported to have died at his Abuja residence on Wednesday, January 25 after a brief illness.

Chukwunonye Irouno, Labour Party candidate for Imo House of Assembly

Chukwunonye Irouno, the Labour Party candidate for Okigwe local government area of Imo State House of Assembly, died on Monday, December 5, 2022.

Irouno was an aide to a former governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha.

He was reported to have died a few minutes after arriving at his Owerri residence.

Christopher Elehu, Labour Party candidate for Imo House of Assembly

Similarly, Christopher Elehu, the Imo state house of assembly candidate for the LP in Onuimo local government was killed by some suspected assassins on Friday, December 16, 2022.

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After killing him, the suspected assassins proceeded to set the deceased's country home ablaze and destroyed his property.

Barrister Abba Bello Haliru, PDP House of Reps candidate in Kebbi

Barrister Abba Bello Haliru, the PDP candidate for Birnin Kebbi/Kalgo/Bunza Federal Constituency of the House of Representatives, has also died.

Haliru's death was confirmed by the PDP Governorship Campaign Council Director General, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu.

Shehu said Haliru died after a brief illness in Abuja on Friday, January 6.

Mathew Akawu, PDP House of Assembly candidate in Plateau

Also, the 2023 Plateau State House of Assembly candidate under the platform of the PDP, Mathew Akawu, has died.

Akawu died in a hospital on the morning of Friday, January 6, after a brief illness.

A member of his family who spoke on the unfortunate incident said that the former school principal died a few hours after returning from a traditional festival in his Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state.

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Ejikeme Omeje, APC House of Reps candidate in Enugu

Pharm. Ejikeme Omeje, the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives candidate for Nsukka/Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency in Enugu, died in November 2022.

Omeje, a prominent candidate of the APC for Nsukka/Igbo-Eze South Federal Constituency, was said to have been involved in a motor accident on Tuesday, November 8.

The accident happened when Omeje was returning from a political meeting held in Edem-Ani town.

2023 elections: INEC reveals what PDP must do following death of Abia governorship candidate

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed the PDP in Abia state to conduct a fresh governorship primary election in the next 14 days to replace its governorship candidate, Professor Ikonne.

The electoral commission gave the directive following the death of Professor Ikonne on Wednesday, January 25. Festus Okoye, the INEC National Commissioner on Voter Education and Publicity, said the directive was in line with the provision of the Electoral Act 2022.

Legit.ng notes that the INEC's directive will also apply to other parties.

Source: Legit.ng