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INEC: The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged by the Enugu State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Committee to officially announce Dr. Peter Mbah as the victor of the state’s March 18 governorship election.
Just then, the party issued a warning to the Labour Party (LP) and Chijioke Edeoga, its governorship candidate, against what it called a “do-or-die” approach to politics, noting that, in contrast to the PDP, which accepted its defeats with democratic composure, the LP wants INEC to invalidate the results of the places where it lost elections.
In a statement released on Sunday, Nana Ogbodo, the PDP’s director of communications and spokeswoman, recalled that yesterday at the state election collation center, the returning officer for Nkanu East LGA, had announced that the PDP’s candidate for governor received 30,350 votes in his home LGA of Nkanu East, while the LP’s candidate received 1,855 votes to finish in a distant second.
Although the LP did not dispute the number of 30, 294 votes it reported in the Nsukka LGA, it claimed to have asked the state returning officer to void the vote for Nkanu East.
In a statement, the PDP Campaign Council asked that Ogbodo’s candidacy be immediately recognized as the state’s next governor.
“We appeal on INEC to declare Dr. Ndubuisi Mbah the governor-elect for Enugu State forthwith, having satisfied the conditions of the electoral act of 2022 and the constitution,” it added.
We adamantly insist that the LP cannot be permitted to halt Enugu’s democratic development with its do-or-die tactics, as proclaimed by its senator-elect, Chief Okey Ezea, in a widely shared video prior to the governorship race.
“It should be recalled that the LP candidate won the governor’s race in Udenu, the local government of the PDP-affiliated incumbent governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, and we didn’t voice any complaints.
The LP defeated an incumbent governor of the PDP in the Enugu North senatorial race on February 25; we did not win that race.
“Edeoga also claimed to have won 12,518 votes in the Isi-Uzo LGA, where about half of the registered voters are from Eha-Amufu and where thousands of residents who were recently displaced due to herdsmen assaults and a related security situation are only now starting to come back home.
However, reports from Isi-Uzo, particularly Eha-Amufu, demonstrated that Edeoga militarized the poll and falsified election results; these developments were formally reported to the INEC and authorities.
The statement continued, “We find it hypocritical on the part of the LP to accept its victory, including the votes it garnered from Nkanu East LGA to emerge the winner in the Enugu East senatorial election held on the same day as the governorship election, but only to reject the result of the governorship election because the PDP candidate received the most votes as expected in his native LGA and stronghold.”
Thus, the PDP Campaign Council advised the Labour Party to quit agitating the political scene and concede defeat.
