Hoodlums on Wednesday disrupted the Enugu rerun election for Enugu South 1 State Constituency, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says.
INEC said this in a short note on its verified X social media handle on Wednesday.
“Report from our Enugu State office indicate that hoodlums have disrupted the electoral process in the state constituency.
“Fortunately, no casualties were reported, but election materials were destroyed, and voters were obstructed from casting their votes.
“Our officials have been safely evacuated with assistance from security agencies.
“In contrast, the supplementary election in the Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency of Taraba State is unfolding peacefully across three local government areas,” it added.
The disruption meant there was no voting on Wednesday in the rescheduled Enugu South Urban State Constituency re-run election.
The development followed a disagreement between Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the period allocated for the election between 8a.m. and 2p.m.
Reacting, Mr Sam Ngene, the PDP Candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency re-run, said that the election would not hold due to “lack of authentic result sheets for the election”.
“We are not happy with the current development as it is not fair to my party. We have made formal complaints to INEC, alleging that INEC official hoarded the authentic result sheets.
“This election should not hold and should not stand. That is PDP stand,” he said.
On his own part, Mr Emeka Ngene, LP Candidate for Enugu South Urban State Constituency re-run, accused the PDP of deliberately ensuring that the election would never go smoothly.
Ngene said that the authentic result sheets were available here as presented by INEC and was sighted by all stakeholders at the CBN on Tuesday.
“The election should go on and this is for the interest of tax payers, whose money is being used to prosecute this election.
The election, which was supposed to hold on Feb. 3, was rescheduled for Feb. 14,” he said.