We of the Labour Party (LP) in Enugu State have read, with much interest, a motion passed by the Enugu State House of Assembly urging President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to investigate the “ignoble role” of the military in the governorship and state assembly polls of March 18, 2023. At first we doubted the veracity of the story, but it has turned out that the supposed lawmakers indeed frowned at the presence of soldiers on that election day.
Have we reached a stage where criminals can now boldly describe themselves as victims? Is the ENHA now in full support of brigandage, terrorism and murder which the military discouraged in Enugu State during the elections? It is lamentable that the accomplices to murderous gangsterism could not even allow the ENHA to observe a minute’s silence or express regrets over the cold-blooded assassination of LP senatorial candidate for Enugu East, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu, three days to the election he was set to win. Instead, the ENHA concentrated blames on the security agents for preventing more bloodshed in the state.
The truth is that, but for the soldiers, armed thugs and cultists would have murdered no fewer than 100 other Enugu citizens on March 18. At least three members of the ENHA and most of the 17 LG chairmen in the state had hired and quartered armed thugs in their residences in preparation for D-Day. On the election eve, the soldiers carried out successful raids on hideouts at Isi-Uzo, Igbo-Eze North and Nsukka LGAs, among others, arresting thugs armed with sophisticated weapons who had been imported from nearby states. Dozens of them escaped but dozens were arrested and handed over to the police.
The PDP had weaponised council chairmen and their appointees in the state. They were instructed to see the governorship election as their last battle for survival. After the PDP was trounced in the February 25 polls in Enugu State, its chieftains resolved to steal the governorship election in order to ensure their continued access to the public treasury from which they have fed since 1999.
The presence of the military in the state, therefore, was the saving grace for Enugu people many of whom had been receiving all manner of threats from the PDP warlords. Certain police and electoral officials seemed to have been bought over, as they watched or looked away in places where armed PDP thugs snatched result sheets and other INEC documents, destroyed ballot papers and boxes, intimidated electoral officials and forced terrified voters to flee. At collation centres, the military treated all political parties equally; in fact, the PDP had greater presence than LP and other parties, as council chairmen had unrestrained access to INEC offices that had been sealed off to party supporters. Fake result sheets were smuggled into some collation centres. The abracadabra performed at Nkanu East LGA is there for all to see: fewer than 8,000 people have ever cast their votes in Nkanu East, but on March 18 the “results” showed that 33,000+ “voted”, though only 7,000+ were accredited by BVAS!
We plead with the president and the NASS to grant the ENHA’s request by investigating the activities of not just the military but also the police, DSS, civil defence and some INEC officials who were seen leaving Government House with boxes filled with dollar bills before the elections. The ENHA members have a right to lament their loss at the polls: Labour Party has won 14 out of 24 assembly seats in the state, and some others including the governorship seat are certain to be retrieved from the PDP in due course.
As a political party that enjoys the support of an overwhelming majority of Enugu people, LP stands for violence-free polls. We have always demanded that thugs and other criminal elements be stopped in their tracks. And we have always demanded that the will of the electorate as expressed in their votes be respected at all times. Those who have chosen to toe the line of brigandage at elections should be brought to justice.
signed
McGinger Ibeneme Director of Media and Strategy Labour Party, Enugu State
April 5, 2023.
