On September 26, 2026 voters in Enugu state went to the polls to elect council chairmen and their council law makers across the 17 local government areas in the state.
However, like the case of Anambra state held on August 29, 2026, voters’ apathy, low turnout of voters and late arrival of electoral materials marred the election
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that the election which was conducted by the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission ENSIEC across all the 17 local government areas of the state, witnessed late arrival of electoral materials at several polling units.
Our reporter who went round some polling units in the state gathered that election was punctuated with poor turnout of voters coupled with apathy on the part of the voters.
In any case, at Umuoyo polling unit, Nru Nsukka, few voters were seen, waiting for the ENSIEC officials.
At about 10am, two electoral officials were seen, carrying some sensitive and non sensitive materials on a motorbike.
Also at Onuchuchukwu polling unit in Igbo-Eze South local government area, only about three were seen, waiting for the ENSIEC officials at about 11am.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that only a few voters including the incumbent council chairman and APC candidate in the election were seen casting their ballots at some polling units in the council.
More worrisome was the fact that some youths were seen playing football at the primary school where the polling unit was located.
At Ogbodu-Aba polling unit, precisely at Community secondary school, Ogbodu-Aba, only about ten voters were seen waiting for the electoral officials at about 12:30pm.
At Ogrute polling unit in Igbo-Eze North local government area, only a handful of voters turnout for the election.
Despite earlier announcement by the state government on the restriction of movement, many shops owners opened for business on the election day.
One of the residents Michael Ezeja who spoke to our reporter said ” I don’t see any reason I should leave my shop to go and vote in an election that has been decided before today.”
According Mr. Ezeja, “the ruling party APC has alloted the seats to all their members. No party except APC participated in the election. So, I don’t see any reason I should waste my business to go and vote for APC when my vote will not mean anything to the party.”
However, Janeth Nwankwo is a civil servant. She told our reporter that ” I have never seen any local government election state that was characterized with malpractices like this one. In fact, this is not an election. The result has been decided some months ago.”
Going down memory lane, Nwankwo told our reporter that ” some years ago, local government election in this state was very hot because so many opposition parties take part. I can still remember some years ago when an opposition party, All People’s Party, APP won local government election in Udenu local government area. But this time around, no opposition party participated.”
Asked if she voted, she told our reporter that ” I don’t see any reason why I should waste my time in such an election that has already been decided by the governor. So, I decided to stay in my house.”
Our reporter gathered that though the state government restricted movement of people and vehicles, there was no such restriction during the election.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that 12 serving local government chairmen secured return tickets during the party primaries held in May 2026.
They include Jude Asogwa, Nsukka; Caleb Ani, Enugu South; Ugo Ukwueze, Igboeze South; Ibenaku Onoh, Enugu North; Ugochukwu Nwanjoku, Aninri; and Greg Anyaegbudike, Oji River.
Others were Chijioke Ezugwu, Uzo Uwani; Hyginus Agu, Udi; Uche Okoro, Awgu; Belove-Dan Anike, Enugu East; John Ogbodo, Nkanu West; and Vitalis Ndu, Ezeagu.
Obiora Obeagu of Isi-Uzo and Sydney Edeh of Nkanu East, who had completed their constitutional two-term tenure, were replaced with Brendan Ani and Mike Ogbuekwe, respectively.
Three incumbent chairmen who did not return during the exercise were Eric Odo, Igbo-Etiti; Aka Eze, Udenu; and Uche Ogalla, Igboeze North.
They were replaced with Martin Ugwu for Igbo-Etiti, Ikechukwu Ezeoha for Udenu, and Dr Chris Onyekachi for Igboeze North.
