The All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Labour Party (LP) protested the exclusion of result sheets at polling units in Enugu State on Saturday. The protest began when Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) officials arrived at polling units at 9:40 a.m. without the essential documents.
At polling units 008, 020, 003, 002, and 001, located at Christ Church, Enugu South Council, APC and LP agents refused to proceed with the election until result sheets were provided. A Labour Party agent, who wished to remain anonymous, told NAN: ‘ENSIEC provided other materials, but the result sheets were missing.
“The Supervisory Presiding Officer claimed she had the results, but would only bring them in the afternoon for the Presiding Officer to enter scores.”
An APC agent who also pleaded anonymity corroborated this, stating: ‘There will be no election without result sheets. APGA’s Acting Chairman, Mr Ekene Uzodimma, reported similar issues in Awgu Ward nine, where election materials arrived without result sheets.
“Many polling units in my ward have not received materials by 11 a.m.”
APGA Councillor for Trans-Ekulu Ward, Mr Okeke Fidelis, said his entire ward had not received election materials. Another APGA Collation Agent, Uche, was denied entry at Enugu North Council Area, allegedly due to only PDP agents being allowed.
In Udi Council Areas, APGA Chairmanship candidate, Mr Chukwuemeka Ochi, reported that many polling units were yet to receive election materials. It was observed a low voter turnout at many polling units visited in Enugu South Council Area.
Low turnout, late arrival of materials mar Enugu LG election
The Local Government Election in Enugu on Saturday was marred by low turnout of voters and late arrival of voting materials at various polling units and wards.
Correspondents who monitored the election in Enugu South Local Government Area, observed that there was low turnout in most wards, particularly in Igbariam primary school ward 7 and the Union Boys Secondary School ward 8 respectively.
It was observed that there was presence of security personnel at the wards visited even as people were going about their normal duties.
At Igbariam primary school and Union Boys Secondary School, voting materials had not arrived as at 10am. A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent at Ward 8 Unit 7, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed the low turnout to the experience of the 2023 general election.
“There is low turnout of voters as you can see, people are not coming out to vote because the last general election has discouraged everyone from coming out to cast their votes,” he said.
Also speaking at lgbariam Primary School Ward 7 Unit 2, one of the electorates, Mrs Chika Eze said that in spite of security presence at the ward, only few number of people turned out to cast their votes.
“With the presence of security agents around the voting centre, only few people came to cast their votes,” she said.
It was a similar situation in Awgu, Transekulu, Obiagu and Independence Layout as voting materials were yet to arrive while the electorates were seen trickling in.
Meanwhile, the roads are almost empty as there was few vehicular movements while some shops were open for businesses.
It was observed that businesses were slow as few business owners were with their goods at various wards with low patronage.
Enugu LG polls: Early morning downpour delays arrival of materials, officials
Early morning downpour on Saturday has delayed arrival of electoral materials and officials in some polling booths in Enugu.
The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) had fixed Sept. 21, as election day for the 17 chairmanship and 260 ward councilorship positions in the state.
After the down pour, the materials distribution centre in Enugu South Local Government Area, started sorting out materials for onward distribution to polling units.
One of the officials, who simply gave his name as Kelvin, said that the distribution centre witnessed delay due to the rain.
“However, we have concluded the sorting and vehicles have started dispatching non sensitive and sensitive materials, as well as electoral officials to the respective polling units,” he said.
It was gathered that voting would be done manually by ENSIEC. 17 political parties are participating in the election and the state have over two million eligible voters expected to participate in the election.
The election would cover 4,145 polling units; while 12,800 ad hoc electoral staff, hundreds of electoral staff and 17 electoral officers were trained and deployed for the election.
A total of 4,145 security personnel had been deployed to ensure a hitch-free election.
