The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has cancelled the Enugu East senatorial election earlier scheduled for tomorrow, February 25, 2023.
The cancellation was a sequel to the murder on Wednesday of the Labour Party candidate for the election, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu, who was shot and set ablaze alongside five others.
Fielding questions from reporters in his office, Enugu State Labour Party Chairman Hon. Casmir Agbo described the death of the candidate as shocking.
He explained that following the death of Oyibo Chukwu, the party wrote the national constitution.
“INEC advised us, and we met and wrote to INEC Abuja through the National Headquarters in line with Sections 33 and 34.
“The party has 14 days to nominate another candidate for substitution.
“In line with the electoral act, we have done what we ought to do, and yesterday INEC cancelled the election.
“We will hold our primary election in the next 14 days.
“So the election has been cancelled and a new date will be fixed by INEC.”
The party chairman insisted that the Labour Party Senate candidate was killed.
“Someone who was shot in his vehicle and set ablaze.”
“They planned it; the man was coming back from his village, Amuri, and they double crossed him at Amechi.
“They shot him in his car alongside other occupants, poured fuel in it, and burned it.
“So it wasn’t an accident or an armed robbery; nothing like that. It was well planned and executed.
“So he was murdered. Oyibo Chukwu was murdered by assailants. Investigations are still ongoing, but the party sees it as a political murder.
“His death will not deter the party; it will rather act as a boost. We won’t lose another person, but we shall win this election in a landslide.
“Enugu East belongs to the Labour Party. Enugu State belongs to the Labor Party. Killing somebody will not deter us.”
