The outcome of the rerun election in Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency of Enugu State calls for judgement for the people running the affairs of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria. The election held last Saturday.
A former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Enugu State, Dr Ben Nwoye, stated this on Monday in the aftermath of the election.
Our correspondent reports that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Simon Atigwe, was declared the winner.
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He defeated Mr Dennis Agbo of the Labour Party who won the poll during the 2023 general election.
Agbo’s victory was annulled following the omission of the logo of APC in the 166 polling units during the poll. Agbo had led by over 12, 000 votes before the rerun.
The LP had alleged that result sheets were pre-filled before the rerun election, and called for its cancellation.
A presiding officer at Igogoro polling unit, one Rolland Ugwuda, a radiographer, was caught as portrayed in a viral video with already filled result sheets in favour of PDP. INEC however denied the knowledge of the alleged presiding officer.
Nwoye, in a reaction, said INEC officials should be accountable, describing the electoral umpire as “fantastically corrupt”.
He said, “The system is not working. We have good laws. But those in the system are not ready. In Kano and Akwa Ibom states, INEC agreed that result sheets were missing. Who stole them? In Enugu South, the election was suspended because result sheets were missing. But till date, nobody is being questioned.
“In Igboeze North, someone, said to be a presiding officer, was caught as we saw in the social media. He is still being detained by the police. And INEC has denied him even when he had an INEC bag and electoral materials.
“But LP should have mobilised well in Igboeze North to stop the election, and not waiting till the winner is declared. The only option is to go to court. You don’t wait and allow the declaration of results before calling for its cancellation. It is unimaginable how a presiding officer would show up in a polling unit with a prefilled result sheets.
“LP would have stopped the elections unless they were also beneficiaries somehow. It calls to question from those working in INEC. There are still good ones, but some are bad eggs. In Jos, somebody with a similar matter was caught, and he was held accountable. We haven’t heard the same in Enugu South. We have a fantastic corrupt INEC.”
Nwoye warned that without urgent measures from all stakeholders to enthrone free and fair elections in Nigeria, voter apathy would be imminent across the federation.
He said, “This will create voter apathy because people are not satisfied. My take home is that people should be vigilant knowing that INEC is not honest. In Enugu South, LP showed resoluteness. If we start telling everybody to go court, the nation is moving backwards. It affects the psyche of electorate when result sheets are prefilled.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, has described the rerun elections that took place on February 3, 2024 in Igbo-Eze North/Udenu Federal Constituency and Enugu South 1 State Constituency of Enugu State “as generally peaceful”.
The CP, however, acknowledged the eventual suspension of that of Enugu South 1 State Constituency due to the non-availability of INEC’s original result sheets for the voters’ inspection before the commencement of voting.
Uzuegbu expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the police and other security personnel involved in the election security management, adding that they were “resilient and diligent”.