As political parties are preparing for the February 3 rerun election in Udenu/Igboeze north federal constituency, Enugu State, voters’ apathy and cold feet developed by stakeholders may affirm the result of the previous election annulled by the appeal court. LAWRENCE NJOKU reports.
The excitement, frenzy and trappings expected of an electoral contest appear to be lacking or brought to knee levels in the February 3, rerun House of Representatives election in Igboeze North/Udenu federal constituency in Enugu State as ordered by the Court of Appeal.
Reasons for this are not far-fetched and may not be limited to rulings of the courts over the 2023 general elections, which dashed hopes in some circles and ignited the same in others. The other might be likened to the expected outcome of the process.
The Court of Appeal had on November 3, 2023 nullified the election of Labour Party’s Dennis Agbo for the Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency and ordered a rerun within 90 days for all the parties.
The court removed Agbo following the appeal brought by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the election, Oby Ajih. She had approached the appellate court, challenging the ruling of the tribunal that the election did not follow due process as the logo of her party was not in Form EC8A.
It was based on this ground that the election was nullified. The court ruled that non-inclusion of the logo of APC in the result sheet was not in compliance with the Electoral Act; thus setting the tone for the rerun election for all parties involved on February 3.
Before then, Agbo had already been sworn in as a serving member of the House of Reps. At the last general election, he garnered 28,750 votes to beat his closest contender, Simeon Atigwe of the PDP who polled 14, 229 votes among others.
There are 166 polling units in Udenu and Igboeze north local government councils, where the rerun election of February will take place. Information obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by The Guardian showed that the two local governments have registered voters of 62,688 and collected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) of 61,544.
