Enugu residents and supporters of the Dr Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP have staged a protest at the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Mbah is currently leading his closest challenger, Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party with 16747 votes.
According to the results collated from the 17 Local Government Areas in Enugu State, the PDP polled a total of 174,289 votes while Labour Party had 157,542 votes.
The INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, however said that proceeding will commence again by 8:30am on Monday to allow the commission, attend to the complaints raised by both PDP and Labour Party.
But the supporters of the PDP are insisting that INEC isn’t a tribunal and as such, should declare Mbah winner and accusing the umpire of trying to scuttle the process.
The PDP Campaign Council Spokesman, Nana Ogbodo who spoke with Jungle-Journalist.Com from the protests ground, cautioned INEC to do the needful to avoid breakdown of law and order in the state.
He said “Nobody should by any action or inaction foment trouble in Enugu State. When results were collated, the EO did not raise any issue. Its not the position of the Returning Officer to begin to adjudicate on the propriety otherwise of it. His is to collate the results and announce it.
“We also have our own issues concerning some Local governments, including Nsukka, Isi Uzo, Igboeze South. There are litany of issues. What we are saying is, let these things go in, there are people properly constituted to look into the dynamics of it, weigh the facts, measure the temperaments and then pronounce on it. That is why, procedures are as important as the action itself.
“We urge INEC not to create any trouble in Enugu State. Everybody knows that Peter Mbah won this election and won it clearly. Enugu is too big to be anybody’s fiefdom. Enugu is too big for anybody to manipulate. Enugu people have spoken, and we stand by them.
“Democracy thrives when people know they have the right to swing their arms and others have the right to protect their noses. So, we have come here to let INEC know that they cannot continue to delay this thing because that is raising unnecessary tension”, he stated.
Also speaking, a rights activist, Kennedy Iyere said the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu during the collation of the presidential election results, went ahead to return a winner and asked those dissatisfied to go to court.
Iyere wondered why INEC should use Enugu as a guinea pig to experiment what has never been done anywhere in the country, adding that the discrepancies in question here can’t be compared to what happened in the presidential election and despite the protest, Mahmood declared a winner.
He went further to reveal that some powerful persons in Enugu State like former minister, Bath Nnaji, former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo are pushing INEC not to declare the result that its collation has been completed since Sunday night.
Other supporters of Mbah that spoke to journalists, accused INEC of bias and asked them to go ahead and declare their candidate winner since he met all the requirements of the law and has a strong lead of over 16,000 votes.