Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu State, Frank Nweke Junior, has thanked people who came out to participate in the process in spite of the challenges, threats and intimidation reported across the state.
He said their determination was a sign of the awakening that had taken place; and encouraged them to keep their hopes alive and not to be discouraged by the challenges that have beset the current democratic experience.
Nweke said though he often said during his campaign that he would offer his congratulations and best wishes to whoever emerged in a fair and transparent manner, the election was far from fair and certainly not transparent.
He said the violence, thuggery, intimidation, use of divisive sentiments and weaponisation of poverty against their people, which the Peoples Democratic Party allegedly deployed in the course of the campaign and the elections reflected the desperation of the party to hold on to power against the will of the people.
“It was never about the service or the good of ndi Enugu; and the impunity with which these wicked acts were carried out is sickening. Just before midnight on Friday, March 17, 2023, another piece of propaganda was released and distributed aggressively to insinuate that I had stepped down for Peter Mbah, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. But we must call a lie what it is – the absence of integrity, a quality most desired in our government today.
“We would also discover in the course of the day that agents and canvassers at polling units told voters the same story that I had stepped down on the morning of the election.
Nweke further alleged that the most vulnerable and impoverished became preys to vote buying by the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party with as little as N500 or packets of noodles in some places.
He claimed that at Udenu, both parties competed for the votes of the people with N2,000, a plate of jollof rice, Okpa, and a bottle of soda, saying he felt ashamed that this was what the people were worth to some who seek to lead them.
