Enugu North Bye-Election : Turnout impressive despite delayed materials – Nwoye

Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Ben Nwoye, has described voter turnout in Saturday’s Enugu North Senatorial zone bye-election as impressive despite delays in the arrival of electoral materials and technical hitches experienced in some polling units.

The election, held across the six local government areas of the senatorial district, witnessed voters waiting patiently at various polling units to cast their votes, even as reports of logistical challenges and isolated allegations of political interference emerged.
Speaking to journalists at Amube Ward, Polling Unit 7 in Udenu Local Government Area, Dr. Nwoye expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the exercise, noting that the election had remained largely peaceful.
“An assessment of the ongoing voting process highlights peaceful turnout despite logistical and technical challenges.
“So far, people are turning out in their numbers, APC members are coming out to vote, and everywhere I have visited, there has been no violence, ” he said.
Nwoye acknowledged concerns over the late commencement of voting in some areas, attributing the situation to logistical issues under the purview of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It is really a logistics issue. There is nothing we as party leaders can do about it. INEC is responsible for moving sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria in Enugu to all the local government areas,” he stated.
The APC chieftain, who said he monitored preparations the night before the election, noted that electoral officials appeared to be making efforts to overcome terrain-related challenges affecting the distribution of materials.
While expressing concern over reports of malfunctioning Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and network failures, Nwoye said such problems should no longer be occurring.

“At this point, we should not be talking about BVAS failure or network issues. Even yesterday, we experienced serious network challenges in Nsukka. Three of my networks were not working. I don’t know whether it was a general network outage or something specific to the BVAS system,” he said.
According to him, the critical issue was ensuring that voters who turned out were able to cast their ballots without undue delay.

At Iheaka Primary School in Igboeze South Local Government Area, where APC candidate Ikeje Asogwa voted, the exercise was peaceful. Asogwa declined to grant interview with Newsmen.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Nestor Ezeme, alleged that some people attempted to undermine the electoral process..

At Amube Ward in Udenu, former Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, cast his vote around 12:20 p.m. without incident as the process remained orderly and peaceful.
Similarly, voting proceeded calmly at several polling units in Nsukka and other parts of the district.

The Chairman of the Coalition of Registered Political Parties (CRPP) in Enugu State, Dr. Afam Ani, who monitored the election alongside other observers, described the poll as generally peaceful.
Ani disclosed that members of the coalition apprehended a young man allegedly attempting to impersonate a political party agent and subsequently handed him over to security operatives for investigation.
As of the time of filing this report, official results of the bye-election had yet to be announced.