John Adoyi, PBA Journalism MenteeAs the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections take off, there is a poor turnout of voters in some parts of Enugu State as people raise concerns about the conduct and outcomes of the February 25 Presidential elections.
Some voters at the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Uwani in Enugu State told Prime Business Africa (PBA) that though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials came at the stipulated time of 8 A.M, people are still traumatized by the conduct of the last presidential election.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelOne of the voters said: “About 200 persons came out to vote during the presidential election as early as 7:30 but the officials came very late. They came by 11 a.m when people were already tired and had left.”
According to her, her polling unit had 1,000 registered voters but only 100 voted at the end of the day.
She fears that it will be lower than that today March 18.
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Another voter at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) told reporters: “I will not leave my house till 10 A.M. because INEC officials will not come early.”
He said that the officials came at 11 A.M. and still wasted time in setting up materials and equipment.
A voter whose polling unit witnessed high turnout during the presidential election but the late arrival of officials said: “I can’t experience what happened during the presidential election again. I left my house to vote by 8 A.M. but voted by 11 P.M.”
According to the voter whose polling unit is at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Enugu State, “the officials came late and still kept us waiting without any information on how voting should go till 7 P.M.”
Other voters told Prime Business Africa that they might go out to vote if people in the polling unit call to say INEC officials came early and set up the equipment.
They also said they will vote if INEC would electronically transmit results not “falsifying results for us to see.”
The state of Enugu which is geo-politically in the South-east zone of Nigeria has been ruled by the People’s Democratic Party since 1999.
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The 2023 general election has seen surprises in the state due to the emergence of Labour Party (LP) in the state which led to the incumbent governor of the State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi losing his senatorial bid to the LP candidate.
The race in Enugu is a four-horse race between the candidates of the PDP, LP, All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
LP seems to gather momentum in the state as they won seven of the eight House of Representatives seats in the state and one out of the two senatorial districts where elections took place.
Not leaving out the presidential election result in the state LP got a landslide victory of 428640 votes to defeat the closest party, PDP which got 15749 votes.
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