The Enugu state Resident Electoral Commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC , Chukwuemeka Chukwu, has abdicated his neutrality as an umpire in Saturday’s governorship and Houses of Assembly elections in Enugu State, by paying a nocturnal visit to the outgoing governor of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi .
Chukwu was sighted at the premises of the Enugu State governor’s office late in the night of March 13, 2023, five days before the elections, and was received immediately after he arrived and was escorted directly into the governor’s presence.
In attendance at the meeting, held behind closed doors, were, Governor Ugwuanyi, the apparent host; the PDP Governorship candidate in Enugu, Barr. Peter Mbah and his Deputy, Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai, as well as the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Festus Uzor.
The meeting, our informant who witnessed the arrival of the REC, was said to have lasted for quite a while, and on his way out, two of the governor’s personal aides were seen carrying two sizeable boxes which were loaded into the car of the visitor.
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It is not immediately clear what was contained in those boxes, but sources have hinted at some dollars ostensibly directed at inducing the REC to facilitate the stealing of the elections.
PDP, badly bruised from their abysmal failure in the February 25, 2023, Presidential and National Assembly elections, have been doing everything they can to turn the tide next Saturday. Reports of armed build-up across the 17 local government areas of the state have been rife, with the Labour Party governorship candidate, Barr. Chijioke Edeoga, suspecting that the PDP-led government have been importing some militia from outside the state and arming them with weapons purchased for use by the Forest Guards and Neighbourhood Watch security outfits of the state government.
Reports of assets of armed hoodlums in Isi Uzo and Igbo Eze North have made headlines while the Chairman of Uzo Uwani Local Government Area, Chukwudi Nnadozie, has allegedly been stockpiling weapons with the aim to use it against opponents of the PDP, particularly the Labour Party on Saturday.
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, afraid of being probed for what he fears has been his financial malfeasance in his eight years as governor, is reportedly doing his best to ensure that Chijioke Edeoga, the popular candidate, does not emerge as the Governor of the state in May.
“If I allow Edeoga to win, I will go to prison,” he was said to have told close aides shortly after the results of his senatorial election failure were revealed to him.
Although Edeoga has never given any indication of probes and witch-hunts should he win the elections, Governor Ugwuanyi is said to have been filled with fear and has sworn to do everything, including absurd illegalities to ensure that the Labour Party candidate was not announced as the winner of the election.
-EnuguMonitor
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