By Eze Nwamadi, Ogbonna Asadu and Ezema Igwenunu 

The March 18 governorship election has come and gone with the emergence of Peter Ndubuisi Mbah as the governor- elect, but Chijioke Edeoga and his Labour Party, desperate for power, would not concede victory. They also would not toe the right path to their objections. They would rather go back and forth in deliriously imaginative desires and wishful thinking that INEC would continue to review the result of the election ad infinitum. They would stick to Nkanu East as bees would honeycomb, yet the comb is bereft of any drop of honey.

What is this thing about Nkanu East that Edeoga and co won't let go? Why do the heathen rage and imagine vain things? Why do Edeoga and his men seek to crack a big nut with no kernel for their pains? Why take a journey on a dead end?

What is this hullabaloo about the result of a people who galvanized themselves to break the jinx of many years of human existence when no one from that very place had ever held any tangible position in government let alone become a governor? What is wrong with the zeal of the people to bring to an end its underdevelopment and apparent exclusion in the political scheme of things in their constituency and state? Nkanu East Local Government votes were a product of the resolute determination of the people to emancipate themselves from the shackles of poverty, neglect and perhaps deliberate underdevelopment. That was even the main reason why elders of Nkanuland like Chief Jim Nwobodo and Ken Nnamani endorsed Nkanu East for the governorship come to Enugu East Senatorial Zone, besides the adoption of Peter Mbah from Owo in Nkanu East as the consensus candidate for Nkanuland, given his uncommon capacity. Nkanu East is so underdeveloped that for someone from Owo or Amechi Idodo to access their local government headquarters at Amagu Nze, they would have to traverse four local governments: Enugu East, Enugu North, Enugu South and Nkanu West. The communities that make up this local government has no roads linking them.

Before the elections, the people of the local government had gone on sensitization drive all through the place. Besides the mobilization by the local government chairman, Hon. Sydney Edeh, town criers were also mobilized across towns and villages to impress it upon the people the need to vote their son, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, in the March 18 elections. The land also witnessed mass return of indigenes of the local government, living in cities elsewhere in order to ensure they voted Peter. On the day of the election,the people trooped out en masse and voted their son. The collation officer from Nkanu East attested to that, holding that the result was pure and untainted as it reflected the passion of Ndi Nkanu East towards their illustrious son. The total number of registered voters in Nkanu East is 82,959; total number of collected PVCs is 78,500. The total number of accredited voters was 33,134. Total number of valid votes cast was 32,964 and total rejected votes was 170. Going by the total number of collected PVCs, 42% of it was accredited. What makes 42% too improbable to warrant the unnecessary allegation of over-voting? By implication, the turnout was even below average and contrary to expectation, going by the high level of sensitization and mobilisation the local government had embarked upon prior to the elections. 

From the Nkanu East result as collated, the PDP polled 30,350 votes while Labour Party scored I855 votes. INEC had admitted the result untill the collation agent of Labour Party, Eugene Edeoga, the younger brother of Chijioke Edeoga, objected and alleged over-voting. INEC then suspended the collation to review the result of Nkanu East and also that of Nsukka where massive rigging for Labour Party was also alleged. After the review that took INEC 72 hours, amid the protest of Ndi Enugu that the result be announced and Peter Mbah declared the winner, a new result for Nkanu East was announced by INEC. Nkanu East score for the PDP was drastically reduced to 16,956 and that of Labour increased to 1864. The PDP score was reduced by a whooping 13,394 votes on the grounds that they were not transmitted electronically, meanwhile the total number of accredited votes did not change, meaning that though the discounted votes were not electronically transmitted, they were accredited.The fact that they were accredited should have validated them, but INEC for reasons best known to it discounted them and added 9 votes to Labour Party.

INEC curiously sustained Nsukka Local Government votes where massive rigging for Labour Party was reported, following the militarization of the elections in the entire Enugu North Senatorial Zone by Nsukka Generals advancing the spurious cause of irredentism as foisted on them with deceitful claims that Edeoga is from Nsukka, and they would want Nsukka to dominate Enugu politics. Labour Party and their cohorts unleashed terror on voters at Nsukka; intimidated, harassed and suppressed PDP supporters and massively rigged the elections, especially in Nsukka Local Government where they manufactured a whooping 30,000 votes for Edeoga in an election that recorded abysmally low turnout of voters. In the face of all this, the PDP kept its cool and still emerged victorious. Take it from any angle, even removing Nsukka and Nkanu East results, PDP would still win. It is total victory for Enugu PDP no matter how anyone may look at it.

Edeoga and his party are still sulking, and have yet to come to terms with the reality of failure staring them in the face. They are still writing frivolous letters to INEC for yet another review. It is a sign of desperation, and absolute lack of character and the spirit of sportsmanship. Labour Party rigged Nsukka and Isi-Uzo, and yet failed. If they still hold anything against Nkanu East, let them channel it to the Election Petition Tribunal where the PDP is waiting for them with incontrovertible evidence of their rigging Nsukka and Isi-Uzo local governments, as well as to prove that the 13,294 votes discounted from the PDP score in Nkanu East were authentic and should count for the party.