By CHARLES IWUOHA

Labour Party (LP) Candidate, Mr. Emeka Ngene, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Mr. Sam Ngene, are set to slug it out for 4,618 votes in Saturday’s rerun election in Enugu South Urban State Constituency.

The Court of Appeal had declared a return in the political ward in Enugu Urban State Constituency due irregularities.

Emeka Ngene of the LP, who was declared winner by the independent National Electoral commission, INEC, in the March 18, 2023 election with 5,862 votes, is the current member in the State House of Assembly even as the court ordered for the rerun.

The PDP candidate, Sam Ngene, popularly known as Anointed David, was the former Chairman of Enugu State Assembly Committee on Health before INEC issued a Certificate of Return to Emeka Ngene after the election.

Both candidates, who bear the same surname but not related, are currently doing extensive door-to-door campaigns to woo voters within the Uwani area of Enugu, where the ward in contention exists.

Commenting on the rerun on Thursday in Enugu, INEC’s Head of Voters Education and Publicity Department, Rex Achumie, said it would be held between 8:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Achumie said 4,618 eligible voters in one Registration Area (political ward) and eight polling units would be involved in the poll.

He said just like the main elections, all technological devices of INEC would be deployed, including Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, and INEC Election Result Viewing Portal, IReV.

“All rules and regulations for a regular election will apply and be observed during the rerun, and any eligible voter that makes himself/herself available before 2:30 p.m. must vote and his/her vote will count.

“The Enugu State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, has made adequate arrangements to ensure hitch-free elections by providing water-tight arrangements and meeting various election stakeholders.

“INEC is ready to conduct free, fair and credible rerun elections and we have started preparation on time from when the Appeal Court pronounced for the rerun,” he said.

In an interaction, Sam Ngene said: “I have fully mobilized for a door-to-door and one-on-one campaign with my people, which I have been running for weeks now.”

Emeka Ngene was not readily available to comment on his build-up to the D-day after several attempts.