Enugu South Urban Rerun: INEC causes confusion with third election postponement

On Saturday, the Enugu South Urban State Constituency rerun election was called off, leaving anxious voters once more let down.

As noted by Obasanjonews.com, on March 18, 2023, Mr. Bright Ngene, the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, was sworn in as the State House of Assembly Constituency’s winner and the election was deemed void by the court due to its lack of decisiveness.

This is the third time the rerun has been planned.

Voters had gathered in the impacted voting places as early as 7 am, but no INEC representative was present.

While reaching the polling place, Mr. Ngene, the LP’s candidate for the election, voiced his grief about the development.

He said that neither his party nor he had any knowledge that the election would not take place.

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Ngene warned that the INEC should follow the law because it was established by the constitution and that there were rumours that the poll had been postponed.

He stated that the electoral process should be followed in full and that all parties should be notified.

Nevertheless, Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) overseeing Enugu State, acknowledged the postponement of the election when contacted by journalists.

“The exercise scheduled for this Wednesday has been cancelled. To let them know it wouldn’t hold, we sent out a press statement,” he added.

“No date yet; we hope that the commission will come up with a date any time soon,” he said in response to a question about whether a new date had been set.

This is the third time a malfunction has affected the court-ordered repeat, according to Obasanjonews.com.

In the wake of the Enugu REC’s suspension, the Anambra State REC was selected to oversee the final election.

But some criminals broke into the voting locations halfway through and damaged the voting materials.

The election had to be rescheduled for today, Saturday, June 8, 2027, due to this.

When asked if his party was informed of the change, Barr Casmir Agbo, the LP Chairman in Enugu, declined to respond.

“Go ask INEC; send your inquiry to INEC. I won’t comment,” he stated.

The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) election candidate, Hon. Sam Ngene, stated that his party was fully informed of the exercise’s postponement.