INEC Considers Shift of Enugu East Senatorial District

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to abide by the provisions of the Electoral Law on the death of a candidate before the commencement of an election.

The commission was reacting to enquiries on the killing of Labour Party (LP) senatorial candidate in Enugu East Senatorial District, Oyibo Chukwu, who was killed by gunmen on Wednesday.

The development has prompted the LP to ask for poll shift in the area.

INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said once the commission is informed of the candidate’s death and the commission is satisfied, it would countermand the election for two weeks, as provided for in the electoral law.

Yakubu, who addressed reporters ahead of the commencement of the general election, said the concerned party had not informed the commission about the death of its candidate.

The INEC chairman said another candidate for the senatorial election died in Kano recently and that INEC was duly informed by the party concerned.

He said the party forwarded the name of another candidate for the election, adding that the election for that senatorial district would go ahead with the name of the new candidate.

Citing Section 34 of the Electoral Act, Yakubu said such a postponement could only be done if the political party involved officially notifies the commission.

He said: “There are procedures to handling such an issue. In such a situation, the commission will have to countermand the senatorial district for two weeks. The section can only be activated if the party involved officially notifies the commission.”

Section 34(b) stipulates that in the case of election into a legislative House, the election shall start afresh and the political party whose candidate died may, if it intends to continue to participate in the election, conduct a fresh primary within 14 days of the death of its candidate and submit the name of a new candidate to the commission to replace the dead candidate:

“Provided that in the case of presidential or gubernatorial or Federal Capital Territory Area Council election, the running mate shall continue with the election and nominate a new running mate,” the section says.

Yakubu spoke as Labour Party National Chairman Julius Abure called for the postponement of tomorrow’s election in Enugu East Senatorial District following Chukwu’s killing.

Abure said Chukwu’s remains and his vehicle were set ablaze.

It was learnt that the killers also murdered five of Chukwu’s supporters who were with him inside his car at Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area on Wednesday evening.

In a statement yesterday, Abure listed some LP candidates that had been killed, kidnapped, tortured, or injured ahead of this year’s general election.

He called for calm among the party’s members and supporters, saying the Labour Party would get to the bottom of the killings.

“Let me also condole with the immediate family of Honourable Oyibo Chukwu and the entire Labour Party family over this painful loss. I pray that God will give us the fortitude to bear this loss,” he said.

Also, Enugu State Police Commissioner Ahmed Ammani has said the killers of Chukwu are suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).

The police commissioner said he had “ordered the intensification of the discreet investigations and manhunt of the subversive criminal elements, suspected to be IPOB/ESN renegades, who in the night hours of February 22, 2023 at different locations, ambushed and simultaneously attacked and murdered Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) members, and also attempted to attack the convoy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate”.

A statement yesterday in Enugu by the police command’s spokesman Daniel Ndukwe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said Ammani spoke after visiting the scenes of the incidents at Topland, by Ebony Paint Road, and Eke-Otu, both in Amechi-Awkunanaw, Enugu.

He condemned the attacks and commiserated with the parties and family members of the deceased.

Also, the police said their preliminary investigations into the attacks showed that the armed hoodlums, who reportedly operated in a tricycle, attacked a PDP campaign mini bus at Topland, by Ebony Paint Road in Amechi-Awkunanaw, Enugu, and used petrol bomb to set it ablaze, burning to death its driver, identified simply as KC Great.

In a similar scenario, another set of armed assailants, operating in a Hilux vehicle, attacked and set ablaze the campaign vehicle of the Labour Party at Eke-Out, Amechi-Awkunanaw in Enugu, burning to death Chukwu and five of his supporters in the vehicle.

The miscreants were repelled by security operatives while attempting to also attack the convoy of the APC governorship candidate at Eke, Agbani in Nkanu West Local Government Area.

The statement said normalcy had been restored in the affected areas.