Attempted Rigging: Enraged Voters Beat INEC Staff in Enugu Rerun Election

In a startling turn of events during the Enugu rerun election, voters expressed outrage as they discovered an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official allegedly arriving at a polling unit with pre-filled result sheets. Witnesses reported that the electoral umpire had allocated 443 votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 31 votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC), and 15 votes to Labour Party candidates for the Igboeze North/Udenu Federal Constituency.

Voters who turned out to exercise their franchise resorted to physically assaulting the INEC official at Igogoro, Ozzi Ward 2 Unit 004, after uncovering the pre-filled result sheet even before the commencement of voting. The presiding officer, identified as Mr. Ronald Ugwudani from Igbo-Etiti Council area, claimed that the pre-filled result sheet was provided by INEC from the local government.

Despite the re-run election being conducted by INEC due to the Appeal Court’s ruling canceling the initial election in some polling units, irregularities persisted. INEC officials arrived late in many polling units, especially those with a significant number of voters, and were observed without result sheets or arriving with pre-filled results.

The situation escalated when voters, skeptical of the delayed arrival of result sheets, confronted Ugwundani, demanding to see the documents. The INEC official initially insisted that the Senior Presiding Officer (SPO) would bring the result sheets. However, as tension mounted, he reluctantly revealed the pre-filled result sheets from his bag.

In a video capturing the incident, Ugwundani can be heard explaining, “I told them that the SPO will bring it, so, they forced me to search my bag, I don’t know that the result sheet is inside my bag. I showed them the result sheet, and they wanted to kill me.”

Dr. Chukwuemeka Chukwu, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner, had assured journalists on Friday in Enugu that the commission had deployed over 700 staff, ad hoc staff, and 700 armed security personnel for the re-run.