INEC: Why we postponed Enugu Assembly rerun election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed the reason for the cancellation of the rescheduled rerun election for the Enugu South 1 State Constituency in Enugu State.

This is the third failed attempt by INEC to hold the election.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate for the Enugu State House of Assembly, Bright Ngene, was declared winner of the March 18, 2023, election and was sworn in but the election was nullified by the tribunal for being inconclusive.

As of 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 8, 2024, voters had converged in the affected polling units but no official of the INEC was seen at the venue.

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Ngene, who was at the polling centre, expressed dismay over the development.

He told journalists that there was no information available to him and the LP that the election would not be held.

On his part, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Sam Ngene, however, said the postponement was communicated to his party.

Speaking on the development, the electoral umpire said the election was postponed due to security reasons.

The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Enugu State, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, made this known in Enugu on Sunday, June 9.

Chukwu said the rerun election, which was fixed after stakeholders’ engagements to hold on Saturday, would hold on a further date to be communicated by the commission.

He said: “Last week, the scheduled rerun election was postponed and duly communicated to all stakeholders with a clear reason for the postponement.

“But I am surprised some people are taking up all sorts of unfounded falsehood and rumours against the commission that it seems the election had been held in secret.”