The younger brother of a slain senatorial candidate in Nigeria’s election has been elected to replace his brother on the ballot.
Kelvin Chukwu is now the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the Enugu East District, Enugu State, south-east Nigeria, as a replacement for his brother, Oyibo Chukwu, who was assassinated along Amaechi-Agbani Road within Enugu metropolis at about 7:20 p.m. on 22 February, barely two days to the elections on 25 February.
The election had to be shifted to 11 March because of the assassination.
It is unclear for now if the police had arrested those behind the incident.
The new candidate, Mr Chukwu, scored 223 votes in the primary election to defeat his rivals, Uchenna Ogbodo, Chinedu Nneji and Christian Onyeni.
His rivals did not score any votes.
The LP National Vice Chairman (South-East), Innocent Okeke, announced the results on Sunday in Enugu in the presence of two officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who were there to monitor the exercise as mandated by the Electoral Act.
Mr Okeke, afterwards, declared Mr Chukwu as the new flag bearer of the LP for the senatorial election in Enugu East District.
Earlier, the LP Chairman in Enugu State, Casmir Agbo, praised the 231 delegates drawn from the 77 wards in the district, for their resilience and support.
The House of Reps member-elect, Enugu North and South Federal Constituency, Chimaobi Atu, expressed joy that the delegates unanimously elected Mr Chukwu to fly the party’s flag on behalf of his slain elder brother.
Responding, Mr Chukwu promised to fulfil all the dreams of his late brother and make the people in the district proud.
He said his family was yet to recover from how their elder brother was gruesomely shot and burnt alongside his personal aide.
(NAN)
