Enugu LG Polls: APC Calls For Constitutional Amendments As PDP Wins All Seats

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, on Monday described as ‘sham’ the outcome of Saturday’s local government elections in the state.

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party won all the chairmanship and councillorship seats in all the 17 local government areas of the state in an election judged by observers as free and fair.

The state chairman of the party, Ben Nwoye, however, stated that his party would not contest the outcome of the elections in court because the law did not provide the time limit for the determination of such case.

Rather, he requested a constitutional amendment that would allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct council polls in the country.

In his words, “The election is a complete sham and electoral fraud. The ENSIEC chairman, Mike Ajogwu, has killed democracy in Enugu State. ENSIEC distributed electoral materials in some places where the so-called election took place without result sheets, because PDP is afraid that if they conduct a free and credible election, the APC will defeat them so, that is why they always engage in this type of sham in the name of local government election. All the information we got from our LGAs situation rooms is the same.”

According to him, various state electoral commissions are under the whims and caprices of the governors, and said there was no level playing fields for opposition parties.

He said the development had killed political enthusiasm associated with local governments’ elections.

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC in the state and director general of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, has described the high-level of apathy shown by voters during the council polls in Enugu state as unfortunate, adding that state governors should be held responsible for voter indifference during elections.

He said, “It’s a pity that elections in Nigeria hardly record up to 50% turnout, which can be attributed to loss of confidence in the electoral system.” He however commended conduct of council elections in some APC states such as Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa where opposition parties won some seats.