The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Enugu State has commended the peaceful and orderly conduct of Saturday's local government elections in areas monitored by the party. The state chairman of the party, Dr. Johnpaul Ani, gave the commendation after casting his ballot at Unit 002, Amaetiti Town Hall, Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state. Ani described the exercise as transparent and credible. The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) was also commended for conducting the exercise.
According to Dr. Ani, the voting process in his polling unit and the wider Nkanu West area was peaceful, orderly and hitch-free. He commended ENSIEC for the conduct of the exercise, saying "First, my assessment of the process is that the process was peaceful, transparent and credible, the way I voted." Ani also added that "I want to commend the commission, ENSIEC, for conducting such a hitch-free exercise." The NDC chairman, however, alleged that the party received reports of access denial involving some of its officials in some local government areas.
The affected party officials were allegedly prevented from accessing local government council headquarters where election materials were being distributed to wards and polling units. Ani mentioned Aninri, Nkanu East and Isi-Uzo as some of the areas from which the party received such reports. According to him, the party had brought the allegations to the attention of the relevant authorities and urged ENSIEC to investigate them. The NDC chairman called on ENSIEC to investigate the situation and bring the perpetrators to book.
Ani also alleged that reports reaching the party indicated that election materials had not reached some polling units in parts of the affected local government areas as of the time he spoke. However, he said the situation in Nkanu West was different, noting that election materials were delivered to all polling units in the local government. Ani said the NDC had deployed agents to polling units where it fielded candidates and that its agents monitored the voting, counting and movement of results to ward collation centres.
The NDC chairman expressed confidence in the party's performance, saying it fielded candidates it believed understood the concerns of the electorate. Ani said "For us in NDC, we are confident that we will win this election at the end of the day because we have done a campaign. We fielded credible candidates; we fielded people that understand what the masses want." He said the party would await the official declaration of results by ENSIEC before deciding on any further action.
As of the time of filing the report, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sunday Aniachi, emerged winner in Akpugo Ward 5 as the councillor-elect, with NDC winning some polling units. The results were yet to be officially declared by ENSIEC. The NDC's performance in the election was being closely monitored by stakeholders and supporters.
The local government elections in Enugu State were conducted on Saturday, with various political parties fielding candidates for different positions. The elections were observed by various stakeholders, including the NDC, which deployed agents to monitor the exercise. The outcome of the election will have a significant impact on the governance of the local government areas in Enugu State.
Key points
- NDC commends Enugu LG polls as peaceful, but raises concerns over access denial to party officials.
- ENSIEC is urged to investigate allegations of access denial and bring perpetrators to book.
- NDC expresses confidence in its performance, saying it fielded credible candidates who understand the concerns of the electorate.
