Enugu LG poll: APGA blames ENSIEC for poor turnout

Enugu, Feb. 23, 2022 (NAN) Mr Ndubuisi Enechi-Onyia, the Enugu State Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has blamed poor planning by the state electoral body for the low turnout of voters.

Enechi-Onyia made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Wednesday while reacting to the conduct of the Local Government elections by the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC).

According to him, publicity for the election on the part of ENSIEC was poor as many people were not aware there was an election.

“Those who knew, did not know the date. Bedsides, the election was wrongly timed as it came up on a working day for the first time and that was why many went for their daily businesses.

“Moreover, the Local Government Council system in this state is nothing to write home about as people do not feel its impact.

“So they stayed at home because they did not know the candidates contesting the elections,” he said.

The APGA chairman expressed dismay at what happened at the polls saying “what happened was not qualified to be an election”.

He said that the party participated to gather concrete evidence to challenge the election after reviewing all that transpired before, during and after the election.

“As far as I am concerned, there are 18 Political Parties that registered for the election and the ballot paper used indicated more than 80 parties.

“The ballot paper they showed me was for 2020 election likewise the result sheet; in fact, everything was so muddled up. So, we will challenge it.

“The reason we participated was to challenge it because, we know that ENSIEC was not ready for the election,” he said.

He however, expressed happiness over the enthusiasm shown by the elderly of his community in Obioma in Udi LGA to express their franchise. (NAN)