By Desmond Ukandu (Politics Editor) and Chinelo Ogbodo (Enugu State Correspondent)
Basking in the euphoria of victory on Thursday, the Enugu State Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council (PDP-CC), on Friday, said the party will defend at the election tribunal or in any court room, the election mandate of Barrister Peter Ndubisi Mba, as the governor-elect of the state.
The Enugu PDP Campaign Council also claimed that the people of Enugu State rose above petty considerations such as religious denomination, clan and party division to elect Peter Mbah as their governor, arguing that the electorates of the state see in Mba as the best party candidate ready for the guber job.
The PDP stated that they, rather than the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) should be complaining about rigging, alleging that both LP and APGA rigged the PDP out in some key council strongholds of the party in the state, which, according to the party, were militarized against their supporters and party agents.
The Enugu PDP-CC's reaction was in apparent response to what it described as the attempts by the candidates of Labour Party and APGA (Chijioke Edeoga and Frank Nweke) and their party supporters to impugn the gubernatorial election resumes in Enugu state and the victory of Peter Mba, their party candidate.
Spokesman of the PDP-CC, Nana Ogbodo, in a statement in Enugu on Friday, March 24, 2023, said the PDP will be glad to encounter both Labour Party and APGA at the election tribunal anytime they decide to challenge Mba's victory as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). "We will meet at the tribunal if they so choose", said Ogbodo.
The Enugu PDP wondered why neither Chijioke Edeoga nor Frank Nweke deemed it necessary to flay the Labour Party's Senator-elect for Enugu North, Chief Okey Ezea (Ideke) when he openly threatened recently in a viral video on social media that the March 18 governorship election would be "a do-or-die" exercise. Ezea, in that video, also galvanized the youths of Nsukka to prepare for a showdown on polling day.
Nana Ogbodo said in the PDP's statement: “Recall that when Frank Nweke Jr. and Hon. Chijioke Edeoga levelled allegations of planned compromise of the governorship election against the PDP, INEC, and other vital institutions of democracy ahead of the March 18 polls, we were quick to point out that they were not only making excuses for their expected failure at the polls, but also indirectly letting Ndi Enugu into the mayhem they planned to unleash on Enugu people, having failed to condemn the statement by the LP party chieftain and Senator-elect, Chief Okey Ezea designating the March 18 governorship election as a ‘do-or-die” affair.
“We also told you that Nweke, who has been a part and parcel of the PDP since 1999 and until last year, serving as Chief of Staff to former governor Chimaroke Nnamani and Minister in three ministries only left to APGA on the erroneous permutation that PDP’s governorship ticket would go outside Nkanu land so he could harvest from the expected protest votes of the people.
“We can authoritatively inform you that Nweke will also be on his way out of APGA after he must have lost again at the Election Petition Tribunal, as he equivocated during today’s press conference when he was asked if he would stay and build APGA into a viable political party in the state.
“He did not disappoint when he characteristically took to the media to deprecate the outcome of the governorship polls, which he was bound to lose in the first place. It is noteworthy that he only garnered 1,609 votes in his native Nkanu West LGA to lose scandalously to PDP, which polled 8,382 votes. It is equally instructive that after all the media vituperations, Nweke only managed to poll a meagre 17,983 votes across the state as against 160,895 votes polled by PDP’s Dr. Ndubuisi Mbah.
“Therefore, we wonder how a man, who scored only 1,609 votes in his LGA, a man rejected by his own people, and also running on a party without structures in the state intended to win a gubernatorial election against the PDP that is not only on ground, but equally parading by far the best candidate with proven capacity, competency, character, track records as well as the most detailed, viable, and ambitious manifesto.
“Meanwhile, we challenge Nweke to swear that the 2023 governorship election was not far better than the massively rigged 2007 election, which he stoutly defended and engaged in war of words with the leader of the US election observer’s mission, Madeleine Albright and former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani. He not only accused Nnamani of plotting an Interim National Government (ING), but also claimed that those complaining about the election were coup plotters.
"Nigerians would recall that even the main beneficiary of the 2007 heist that Nweke vehemently defended, former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was later to openly admit to the world that the polls were flawed.
“Edeoga knows very well that his false claims of over-voting in Nkanu East LGA is a deliberate fabrication that has been put to rest by INEC. He only regurgitates the fallacy to mislead unsuspecting Nigerians the usual Enugu LP’s penchant for propaganda.
“We are aware and have it on record, all the atrocious rigging and militarisation of the election against our supporters in most parts of Enugu North Senatorial Zone and Isi-Uzo LGA. We have ample evidences on how the PDP was manifestly rigged out in Nsukka LGA, Udenu, Igboeze North, Igbo-Eze South, Igbo-Etiti, Isi Uzo, etc. It will also be good if Edeoga tells the world how the about 17,000 votes it recorded in Nsukka LGA suddenly became over 30,000 votes with a phantom over 45,000 voter turnout.
“We commend and align with our governorship candidate, Dr. Peter Mbah’s in the olive branch that he extended to the opposition candidates. We applaud his statesmanship. However, we will meet them at the tribunal if they so choose. It is actually the right place to undress their hypocrisy, violent tendencies, and misuse of security agencies and vital intuitions of democracy for the world to see.
“These are members of the PDP that only wanted to go to the Lion Building in other vehicles. East, West, North and South, there is no place like home and we are ever ready to welcome them back whenever they return. Even the prodigal son, who squandered his father’s wealth and abused his privileges was not rejected by his father,” the PDP-CC stated.
EDEOGA ACCUSES PDP, THANKS ENUGU VOTERS
Meanwhile, the Labour Party's Governorship Candidate in the election, Hon. Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga, same Friday, expressed appreciation to the electorates of Enugu state for what he described as their "overwhelming" vote for "change".
In a profound emotional outpouring and bitterness, Edeoga blamed some unnamed politicians in Enugu state for allegedly conniving with elements in INEC to subvert what he felt was the wish of the majority of Enugu state people to vote for Labour Party and consequently have him elected as next governor of Enugu state.
He however assured the people that their electoral will is ever "Supreme", and urged them to take consolation in the fact that Labour Party would challenge the outcome of that election results. Edeoga further assures them that Labour Party has a "team of dedicated and competent lawyers" who have been briefed "to take the appropriate legal steps to restore the people’s mandate to me and the Labour Party".
Edeoga's statement reads in full: "I would like to thank, from the depths of my heart, Ndi Enugu State for voting overwhelmingly for transformational change in the two elections held on February 25 and March 18, 2023, in our dear State. You stood strongly with the Labour Party. And you have continued to be in solidarity with our transformational political party to this day, despite the determination of a handful of inelegant elements to change the course of history.
"In the Presidential election, you gave the Labour Party 428,640 out of the 468,891 votes cast, or 88.7 per cent of the votes. In the same election, your total support made our party win seven out of the eight federal constituencies in our State. The rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could win only one seat. In the Senate election, your unflinching support saw the Labour Party win the Enugu North district with 104,492 votes; the incumbent State Governor, who is of the PDP, received only 46,948 votes, as he was well-beaten in his polling unit and ward by the Labour Party candidate.
"As expected, the Labour Party also won convincingly in the Enugu East senatorial race, which was rescheduled to March 18, 2023, following the assassination on Wednesday, February 22, of the Labour candidate, Chief Oyibo Victor Chukwu. The good people of Enugu East gave Sir Kelvin Chukwu, a younger brother of the assassinated Chukwu, 69,136 votes, as against the 48,701 votes scored by his closest rival, Dr Chimaraoke Nnamani of the PDP, a former Enugu State two-term Governor and a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. All this took place because you want a change in Enugu State.
"The wind of change continued to blow across the State when you went to the polls on Saturday, March 18, 2023, to participate in the Gubernatorial and House of Assembly polls. You voted clearly for Labour Party candidates in the legislative election because you want a House of Assembly to work harmoniously with the Labour Governor of Enugu State. Consequently, 14 out of the 24 seats in the Assembly went to the Labour Party, with another one still on the way. In other words, you gave the Labour Party a two-thirds majority in the legislative vote to enable the Labour Governor to deliver the goods effectively and efficiently to the Enugu people.
"Your strong desire for change made you vote overwhelmingly for me as the Labour Party candidate in the gubernatorial election. By the night of Saturday, March 18, the result from every Local Government Area (LGA) in the State was already well known, and it was clear that I had been given the mandate to lead Enugu State in a new direction in the next four years. This mandate is a sacred trust. It is not negotiable.
"The desperation of a coterie of politicians in the State working in cahoots with a handful of compromised Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) officers to toy with the destiny of a great people cannot succeed. These persons cannot be allowed to subvert the will of millions of our people. The people’s will is supreme. Our team of dedicated and competent lawyers has been instructed to take the appropriate legal steps to restore the people’s mandate to me and the Labour Party.
"The Labour Party has been the subject of vicious attacks by cowardly and reactionary forces in different parts of the country simply because it represents change, a new social order. Its members, candidates and supporters have been murdered in different states. Its supporters have been demonised, maimed and disenfranchised in different states, and their businesses incinerated just because they believe a new Nigeria is possible. It took INEC a whole four days to engage in creative vote allocation before declaring the so-called result of the governorship election which the whole of Enugu State and the entire nation have rejected as one man. INEC engaged in sheer sacrilege.
"I plead with Ndi Enugu to go about their normal business. We have great confidence in the Nigerian judiciary. The judiciary has restored stolen mandates in a number of instances and has consequently proved to be the last hope of the people. I thank Nigerians from different walks of life for their tremendous support. I will ever remain indebted to the Enugu people for their solidarity.
"There are not enough words to thank the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Medical Association, the business community, the market associations, the religious community, students, the academic community, civil service members, and, of course, my primary constituency which is the media, as well as individuals too numerous to mention here; they are committed to the truth, the common good and justice. My confidence in the Nigerian possibility is once again rekindled. God bless Enugu State".
However, the Enugu State Publicity Secretary of Labour Party (LP), Barrister Onuora Odo, also described the governorship election which produced Peter Mba was a complete hogwash.
In statement on Thursday shortly after Mba's declaration as winner, Odo insists that the PDP's victory can not stand. He stated that, "Enugu State Chapter of Labour Party hereby rejects in its entirety the result of the Governorship elections that took place on the 18th of March,2023 as it was marred by widespread and wholesale rigging, intimidation of voters, doctoring, mutilation and manipulation of the results, particularly the result of Nkanu East.
"It's on record that the process of accreditation and use of BVAS was not followed in some of the pooling booths, especially Nkanu East. It's also on record that in the course of the collation of results, the results of Nkanu East showed monumental disparities between the number of registered voters and the total number of votes, but the obviously compromised INEC decided to disregard the provisions of the Electoral Act and went ahead to declare the conspicuously padded results despite complaints from the opposition parties.
"This was the reason why they deliberately delayed the announcement of the result to pave way for further manipulations. The position of the party, therefore, is that the result as declared by Inec on the 22nd of March, 2023, four days after the elections were concluded, was heavily doctored and does not reflect the wishes of ndi Enugu State.
"In view of the foregoing developments, we are, by this media release, registering our dissatisfaction over the electoral irregularities and malfeasances activated and actuated by heavy financial inducements. Let it be known that our great party is poised to deepen the root of democracy in Nigeria and can not fold our arms and allow this level of electoral heist to go unchallenged. In due course, the position of the party will be made known as we have started assembling our facts together to do the needful. Surely, this is a rape on democracy".
ENUGU GUBER POLL, AS ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY....Frank Nweke Jnr.
In his own reaction, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr Frank Nnaemeka Nweke Jnr. rejected the poll result and described it as " an assault on democracy".
Posting on his verified Twitter handle on Friday, the APGA guber flagbear alleged that the poll was characterised by “a multitude of infringements on our democratic process, an assault on our desires, and our hope for our great state.” He recalled his promise to offer his congratulations and best wishes to whoever emerged in a fair and transparent manner during his campaigns, but adding that the election outcome, unfortunately, was, according to him, far from being fair and transparent.
Nweke equally lampooned the PDP, accusing the ruling party of employing thuggery, intimidation, divisive sentiments, mass poverty against the electorate and instruments of violence to retain power against the will of Enugu people.
He who also accused both the PDP and the Labour Party of vote buying “with as little as N500 or packets of noodles in some places.”, however alleged that the PDP also struck deal with INEC officials to rig the poll, offering cash or dishing out threats, depending on the prevailing situation. The former Minister of Information also tackled INEC for even proceeding to announce Peter Mba as winner on the basis of the controversial Nkanu East result without bothering to explain of how they arrived with the figures.
Nweke stated thus: “The entire process, down to the declaration of its winner, is a complete farce and will lack legitimacy for as long as it stands. The results of Nkanu East local government area, which were contested, got reviewed and revised by the national office of INEC without any basis given for the change in numbers. If it was a case of over-voting, the expectation is that the result from the local government area should have been cancelled.
“It does seem that the numbers were simply manufactured to fit a preprogrammed outcome and read out to the public, as can be inferred from the Returning Officer of INEC in the state, Prof Maduebibisi Ofo Iwe’s comments about acting under authority and reading out what he had been given.
“I am utterly disappointed with the manner in which the Independent National Electoral Commission handled the 2023 elections. I am also saddened by the actions of some members of our security agencies. Both of these institutions of state let the people down when they became compromised by a few desperate power mongers and looters.”
According to the Enugu State Governorship election results declared on Wednesday evening by INEC, Barrister Peter Ndubisi Mbah of the PDP polled a total of 160, 895 votes to emerge winner. Hon. Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga of Labour Party, his closest opponent in the contest, narrowly lost to him with a total of 157, 552 votes, while Mr Frank Emeka Nweke Jnr. (Okeifufe 11) swept the poll box to a third position with 17,983 votes and Chief Uche Nnaji (Nwakaibie) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) came fourth with 14,575 votes. NNL.
