The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has suspended the Saturday February 25, 2023 senatorial election in Enugu East Senatorial District, following the death of the Labour Party, LP, candidate, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced the suspension at a joint press briefing with the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali, on preparations for the 2023 general election in Abuja, on Friday.
Yakubu stated that no senatorial election will take place on Saturday in Enugu East Senatorial District made up of six local government areas, 77 wards and 1,630 polling units, adding that the election will now be combined with the governorship and state assembly elections holding in the next two weeks on 11th March 2023.
According to the INEC chairman, the decision to suspend the election is in line with Section 34(1) of the Electoral Act 2022.
“If, after the time for the delivery of nomination paper and before the commencement of the poll, a nominated candidate dies, the Chief National Electoral Commissioner shall, being satisfied of the fact of the death, countermand the poll in which the deceased candidate was to participate and the Commission shall appoint some other convenient date for the election within 14 days,” the section states.
He said “the Labour Party has provided satisfactory evidence of the death of its candidate. Consequently, the Commission has suspended the election in the senatorial district as provided by Law. We have already communicated this decision to our Enugu State office.”
Recall that Chukwu was gruesomely killed and burnt last Wednesday along with some members of his party at Amaechi Awkunanaw, Enugu, as he was making his way back from a campaign rally.
Speaking on the decision by some ad hoc staff drawn from the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, who have withdrawn their participation from some Local Government Areas in Imo as a result of perennial insecurity, he said the commission has been assured by security agencies that election will hold in those areas.
“The Commission is aware of the situation in Imo State in the South Eastern part of the country where it was reported that some of the critical polling unit officials drawn from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have withdrawn their participation from some Local Government Areas as a result of the perennial insecurity.
“From the report we received from our State office, concerns have been expressed about the security situation in Osu Local Government Area, five Wards in Okigwe and six in Orlu. However, we have been assured that with enough mobilisation of security personnel to the area, it is possible for elections to hold in these locations,” he said.
On the Saturday election nationwide, he said voting would begin at 8.30am and end at 2.30pm, adding however, that any voter who is on the queue before 2.30pm will be allowed to vote even if voting goes beyond the official closing time.
On his part, the Inspector General of Police, Alkali, announced a total of 425,106 security personnel are deployed to police the polling units and unspecified complement of military and other security agencies.
While giving a breakdown of the deployment, he said Nigeria police is deploying 310,973 personnel, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence will deploy 51,000 personnel, the Federal Road Safety Corps is deploying 21,000, Nigerian Correctional Service will deploy 11,366, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency will deploy 9,447, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission will deploy 350 officers, while the Nigeria Immigration Service will deploy 21,000.
“As far as the Election Day is concerned, we have made arrangements in a coordinated, collaborated and synergized manner. The police leads all other security agencies, but like I said, we cooperate, we collaborate and synergize and therefore, our deployment will be done connectively.
“Except for the military and the intelligence community, we are pooled personnel to one basket be it from the Civil Defence, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Customer Service EFCC, the Federal Road Safety Corps, Fire Service. All of us are coming together,” he said.
On the deployment of police equipment, he said the police has deployed 74 armoured personnel carriers, seven water cannons, 1,250 patrol vehicles, 50 truck carriers, 50 ambulances, 50 buses, 300 motorcycles, and motorised equipment for crowd control.
Other deployments to be used for policing during the polls include: 6 helicopters, 9 unarmed aerial vehicles for mission or aerial surveillance and 75 gun trucks with one or two backup ports.
Alkali said there would be restriction of movement on election day to assist the police in controlling and policing miscreants who may come out to obstruct the process.