Enugu: Voter apathy, late arrival of materials characterise poll

Election Peaceful, Credible — Observers
• APC Alleges Attack On Candidates, Questions Absence Of Result Sheets

Following the conduct of Local Government Elections in Enugu State yesterday, a coalition of accredited independent observers has described the exercise as peaceful and transparent.

Addressing newsmen in Enugu, the Coordinator of Civil Society Organisations, Samuel Onoja, said that the elections were devoid of violence and all forms of irregularities.

Onoja added that their observations prior and during the elections were impressive, saying that all the observers deployed to various polling booths across the 17 councils, have sent in their reports confirming that the elections were peaceful.He said the turnout of voters, especially the youth and women, were also impressive, maintaining that there were no incidents of violence, ballot box snatching and vote buying, as the electorate exercised their franchise freely and in a peaceful atmosphere.    

While urging contestants to accept the results of the elections when released by ENSIEC, the observers applauded the people of the state for their peaceful conducts during the exercise.  

The Guardian observed there were late arrival of voting materials, which reached some polling centres around 9am. But accreditation was done with manual voter’ register at polling booths visited.

Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi voted at his Amube ward, in Orba local government council at about 11.30am. Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged attacks on its candidates in Uzouwani council by persons allegedly working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), raising alarm that result sheets were not used in the election.

Chairman of the party in the state, Dr. Ben Nwoye dismissed the election as a sham. The party said the exercise was either marred by voter’ apathy or arrival of voting materials without the result sheets in almost every part of the state.Nwoye told reporters that it was unfortunate that Enugu State government had continued to do things wrongly in an attempt to perpetuate the party in the state, accusing it of failing to offer veritable platform for opposition parties to thrive.