The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared a prison inmate, Hon. Bright Ngene, winner of Enugu South Urban state constituency by-election.
Hon Bright Ngene, candidate of the Labour Party, is currently serving a seven-year jail term over a community-related matter.
His imprisonment is believed to be politically motivated, orchestrated to stop him from returning to the Enugu State House of Assembly after his earlier election in 2023 was nullified by the Court of Appeal.
The court had ordered a rerun in eight polling units with a total of 4,618 registered voters.
Two previous attempts to conduct the by-election by the INEC on February 3 and 14, 2024, failed due to violence, before the electoral umpire postponed it indefinitely.
The Labour Party candidate was being challenged by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sam Ngene.
But as the election was again disrupted in the August 16 by-election, INEC returned the LP candidate winner based on the initial ballots cast.
Bright Ngene with 5,862 votes after the March 18, 2023 governorship and state House of Assembly election, was leading Sam Ngene by over 2,000 votes.
INEC National Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, in a statement on Tuesday, announced the Enugu South Urban by-election has been concluded, and declared the Labour Party candidate winner.
