The Peoples Democratic Party’s Sam Ngene and the Labour Party’s Emeka Ngene will compete for 4,618 votes in the Enugu South Urban State Constituency rerun election on Saturday.
The Court of Appeal had mandated a rerun in the political ward of the Enugu constituency due to anomalies.
Even though the court ordered a rerun, Emeka Ngene, who received 5,862 votes and was certified the victor of the March 18, 2023 election by INEC, is the current member of the State House of Assembly.
Sam Ngene, also referred to as Anointed David, served as the previous Chairman of the Enugu State Assembly Committee on Health prior to INEC awarding Emeka Ngene a Certificate of Return following the election.
The two contenders, who are unrelated despite sharing the same last name, are presently conducting heavy door-to-door canvassing in the Enugu neighborhood of Uwani, where the contested ward is located.
Rex Achumie, Head of INEC’s Voters Education and Publicity Department, stated that the rerun would take place on Saturday between 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in response to questions about it on Thursday in Enugu.
According to Achumie, the poll will have 4,618 eligible voters spread among eight polling units and one Registration Area (political ward).
He noted that all of INEC’s technology tools, such as the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Election Result Viewing Portal (IReV), would be used, exactly like in the main elections.
“All rules and regulations for a regular election will apply and be observed during the rerun, and any eligible voter that makes himself/herself available before 2:30 p.m. must vote and his/her vote will count.
“The Enugu State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, has made adequate arrangements to ensure hitch-free elections by providing water-tight arrangements and meeting various election stakeholders.
“INEC is ready to conduct free, fair and credible rerun elections and we have started preparation on time from when the Appeal Court pronounced for the rerun,” he said.
In an interaction, Sam Ngene said: “I have fully mobilized for a door-to-door and one-on-one campaign with my people, which I have been running for weeks now.”
Emeka Ngene was not readily available to comment on his build-up to the D-day after several attempts.
