Hours to the February 25 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the suspension of election in Enugu East Senatorial District.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu made this known at a media briefing on Friday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, senatorial election in the district earlier slated for Saturday, February 25, 2023, has been moved to March 11, 2023.
The INEC Chairman said the postponement became imperative following the murder of the Labour Party (LP)’s senatorial candidate for the district, Oyibo Chukwu.
He said the Labour Party reached out to the electoral body to convey its intention to provide a replacement and go ahead with the poll at the new date.
He said, “The party also conveyed its intention to participate in the election for that constituency by replacing its deceased candidate. This request is in line with the provision of the law – Section 34, Sub-Section 1 of the Electoral Act 2022.
“The Labour Party has provided satisfactory evidence of the death of its candidate. Consequently, the commission has suspended the election in the Senatorial district as provided by law.
“We have already communicated this decision to our Enugu State office.
“Therefore, there will be no senatorial election in Enugu East Senatorial District made up of six local government areas, 77 wards and 1,630 polling units tomorrow, February 25, 2023.
“The election will now be combined with the governorship and state assemblies elections holding in the next two weeks, on 11th of March 2023.”
