Kelvin Chukwu, the younger brother of Oyibo Chukwu, the recently assassinated Labour Party senatorial candidate for Enugu East senatorial zone, has been picked by the party for the March 11 senatorial election for the zone.
Oyibo Chukwu was assassinated on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 less than 72 hours to the Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections.
It had been reported that Chukwu was not only gruesomely murdered but his remains were burnt with his body. His Personal Assistant was also killed alongside with their bodies incinerated.
Consequently, in fulfilment of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and the constitution the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shifted the election to March 11 to enable the Labour Party find his replacement.
The LP governorship candidate in the state, Chijioke Edeoga, while condemning the brutal assassination of Chukwu, said the party was shopping for a credible person that would replace him and who would be acceptable to the stakeholders, the party and family of the deceased candidate.
“We are taking steps – we are consulting important stakeholders to make sure that the person who emerges will meet the various expectations both of the zone, the Oyibo family, the Labor Party leadership in Abuja and Enugu state. We are looking for somebody or person who will match in this expectations and feel the place and hopefully the person will win given the trend in Enugu state at this point in time,” he had said.
However, on Friday, the posters of Chukwu’s younger brother, Kelvin flooded Enugu and the state capital.
In one of the posters that had the pictures of Labour Party governorship candidate, the deceased senatorial candidate and his junior brother Kelvin, stated that “Kelvin replaces his late elder brother for Enugu East Senatorial Zone Elections come 11th March 2023.”