The Labour Party Coalition for True Democracy has made a call to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) urging them to review the Enugu gubernatorial election, citing similarities with the recent events in Adamawa. Mr. Ken Asogwa, the spokesperson for the coalition, made this statement during a news conference held in Abuja on Wednesday.

Asogwa alleged that the scenario that unfolded in Enugu on March 18 was similar to what emboldened the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa to attempt to usurp the powers of the State Returning Officer in a shameful manner. The coalition believes that a review of the Enugu gubernatorial election by INEC is warranted, given these parallels.

“You may recall that in Enugu, after the collation of 16 Local Government Areas (LGAs) out of the 17 LGAs of the state, the Labour Party candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, was leading with over 11,000 votes.

“This lead by the Labour Party was in consonance with the results of the other declared elections in the state wherein the Labour Party won two of the three senatorial seats in the State.

“LP also won seven out of the eight Rep seats in the state and 14 out of the 24 seats in the State House of Assembly.

“Where then lies the path to victory for the PDP in that election, judging from the established voting pattern?‘’

Asogwa pointed out that it was surprising that INEC wrote and awarded the PDP a significant 30,000 votes in Nkanu East LGA, which is the local government area of the PDP candidate. He referenced the figures from INEC’s Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which indicated that Nkanu East LGA had a total of 15,000 accredited voters on Election Day.

However, Asogwa highlighted that despite the accredited voter count, the final vote declaration showed that the PDP was allocated a total of 30,350 votes, while only 1,855 votes were credited to the Labour Party. This discrepancy in vote allocation raised concerns for the Labour Party Coalition for True Democracy, and they are calling on INEC to review the Enugu gubernatorial election in light of these findings.

“So, the big question is; how could INEC have turned out over 33,000 votes in Nkanu East LGA that had only about 15,000 accredited voters?

“The ready answer is that the Electoral Act was literally thrown under the bus by writing results without recourse to the BVAS.

“One had expected INEC to cancel the results of the polling units in Nkanu East LGA where there were manifest over-voting, in line with S 51 (2) of the Electoral Act.

“The Act stipulates that where there is established incident of over-voting in any polling unit, the returning officer has an obligation under the law to cancel the elections in those polling units and order a rerun,’’ he said.

Asogwa mentioned that during the collation process, there were protests from the Labour Party agent and agents of other political parties. Additionally, he noted that the State Returning Officer, Prof. Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe, was reluctant to accept the result from Nkanu East LGA.

Asogwa further explained that the collation process was temporarily suspended by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, who took charge of the situation by constituting a committee that awarded and subtracted votes indiscriminately.

Furthermore, Asogwa highlighted that during the declaration of the Enugu State gubernatorial election results, there were a total of 21,156 persons with Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) who had not yet cast their votes across the State due to elections not being held in their polling units as a result of violence. These findings raise concerns about the integrity and fairness of the election, and the Labour Party Coalition for True Democracy is urging INEC to review the Enugu gubernatorial election in light of these issues.

“Recall that in the final result as declared by the INEC, the candidate of the PDP purportedly polled a total number of 160,895 votes while the candidate of the Labour Party polled a total of 157,552 votes.

“ In other words, the candidate of the PDP purportedly won by 3,343 votes.’’

Asogwa pointed out that based on the analysis above, it was evident that the figure of 21,156 voters who were unable to cast their votes due to violence could significantly impact the final outcome of the election.

He further noted that INEC, however, hastily returned a winner in Enugu without conducting a supplementary election, unlike what was done in Adamawa.

Asogwa also highlighted that in addition to the issue of uncast votes, the number of cancelled votes in the election exceeded the margin of lead between the Labour Party and the PDP candidates.

He further emphasized that according to the Electoral Act, when the number of cancelled votes exceeds the margin of lead, a rerun should be conducted in the affected units before a final return can be made.

These concerns raised by the Labour Party Coalition for True Democracy suggest that the Enugu gubernatorial election may not have been conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act, and a review by INEC is warranted to ensure fairness and integrity in the electoral process.

“Notwithstanding these clear provisions, the INEC in Enugu bizarrely returned a winner in an election that was literally inconclusive.’’

Asogwa, in light of the above circumstances, stated that it was the Enugu INEC electoral playbook that the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa attempted to replicate in the state.

He called on all well-meaning Nigerians to be concerned about the brazen nature of the crime that occurred in Enugu State on March 18th and to stand up for democracy.

Asogwa expressed confidence in the judiciary to rectify the injustices committed during the Enugu gubernatorial election.

He highlighted that the Enugu electorate chose to vote for Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party for a reason, and that choice should have been respected by all stakeholders, especially INEC.

Asogwa reiterated the coalition’s continued urging of their supporters to pursue peaceful means while awaiting the intervention of the judiciary to deliver justice in the face of the evident injustice.

“We would not fail in our duty to urge Nigerians to be vigilant as the enemies of state are at it again,’’ he said. (NAN)