SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced that some hoodlums disrupted the re-run election in the Enugu South 1 State Constituency.
Hundreds of electorate in the Enugu South 1 State Constituency in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State on Wednesday protested the withholding of the results emanating from the court-ordered supplementary election in the constituency.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced that some hoodlums disrupted the re-run election in the Enugu South 1 State Constituency.
In a statement on Wednesday, shared on its X (formerly Twitter) handle, the commission said that though no lives were lost in the act, election materials were destroyed and voters were prevented from casting their votes.
Meanwhile, the electoral umpire said its officials had been safely evacuated to a safer location.
SaharaReporters, however, learnt that the protest followed the disruption of the supplementary election by political thugs led by a PDP chieftain after efforts to stop the electorate from exercising their franchise failed.
The attack and destruction of electoral materials by the PDP thugs and cult members occurred in the presence of over 150 security agents drawn from the military, police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and a host of other paramilitary organisations.
The candidate of the PDP in the election, Sam Ngene was beaten by a senior military officer.
Pained that the Deputy Commissioner of Police and a host of other very senior security personnel were present, and watched the PDP thugs run amok and destroy electoral materials, the military officer descended hard on the party leader.
SaharaReporters gathered that INEC officials had brought election materials as early as 8:00 a.m. amid hundreds of security operatives.
The election was billed to take place in eight polling units in Ward 5, Uwani, which has approximately 4,200 registered voters while about 3,500 had collected their permanent voter cards.
The election was organised by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Anambra State, Mrs. Elizabeth Agwu, who doubled as the electoral officer. Her involvement followed the protest penultimate Saturday that marred the first by-election over the disappearance of the results sheets by the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu.
However, things took a different turn when PDP agents started accusing the INEC of producing fake result sheets.
The allegation came when some political heavyweights including the former Governor of old Anambra state, Chief Jim Nwobodo had persuaded Mrs Agwu to cancel the election after the PDP thugs had chased out the electorate from exercising their franchise and she refused.
The party leaders claimed that they got intelligence that the REC had kept the original result sheets to announce the LP candidate as the winner.
Addressing newsmen at Robinson Street Primary School, Uwani, the venue of the election, the PDP candidate, Ngene, insisted that there would be no voting without the authentic result sheets.
"We have credible information at our disposal that the INEC came for this election with fake results sheets.
"Also, from what we sighted when they displayed the materials, the result sheets are not authentic. So, we demand that the INEC brings the authentic result sheets to enable us to commence voting," he said.
As of 1:00 pm when the INEC officials were waiting for 2:00 pm to conclude the election while no voter was allowed to cast their votes, the PDP thugs descended on the electoral materials at the polling units and destroyed them.
The development however forced security operatives to quickly evacuate INEC officials and their materials to the state headquarters of the commission.
As anxious party supporters waited for the results to be collated and annouced, a protest broke out at the INEC headquarters.
The protesters, who displayed placards, called on INEC to announce the results of the supplementary election, warning the commission to do the right things and not dance to the tune of PDP.
Most of the protesters were supporters of the Labour Party (LP) candidate for the election, Bright Emeka Ngene.
Some of the placards read: ‘INEC say no to compromise. Declare LP candidate, he won the election,’ ‘Our votes must count,’ ‘No to PDP rigging Machine.’
They, however, appealed to INEC not to succumb to the pressure of cancelling the election once again.
While they were chanting solidarity songs, local government chairmen who were in their secretariat close to the INEC office, came out and descended on the peaceful protesters, telling them that Enugu State belonged to the PDP whether they liked it or not.
Thereafter, they started chanting PDP songs and calling on INEC to declare the PDP candidate winner, adding that nothing would happen if that was done.
Addressing journalists, the candidate of LP, Bright Emeka Ngene, lamented that the PDP was doing everything humanly possible to hijack the election and write results in their favour as had been the case in the past.
He disclosed that he was leading his PDP counterpart with over 3,700 votes, before the court-ordered supplementary poll.
He said, "What is at stake is about 4,200 registered voters, some of whom did not collect their permanent voter cards. And when you consider the fact that they have brought so much tension, there will be no more than 1,000 voters that will turn out to vote, even if you do the election 20 times.
“So you will understand their frustration and what they are doing now is to look for a way to write the results."
Meanwhile, it is not clear how INEC will resolve the matter.