KELVIN Chukwu, the younger brother of the murdered Oyibo Chukwu, a lawyer, has been elected as the Labour Party (LP) candidate for the Enugu East Senatorial Zone.
Oyibo, the candidate of the LP for Enugu East Senatorial Zone of Enugu State, was murdered two days to the February 25 National Assembly election.
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As a result, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rescheduled the Enugu East senatorial election to March 11, the date for the governorship and state assembly polls.
A fresh primary election was held on Sunday, March 5, by the LP to select Oyibo’s replacement.
Oyibo’s brother, Kelvin Chukwu, was chosen as his brother’s replacement in the primary election.
The LP National Vice Chairman (South-East), Innocent Okeke, announced Chukwu’s emergence as the new candidate for the senatorial zone in the presence of two INEC observers.
Chukwu defeated his rivals, Uchenna Ogbodo, Chinedu Nneji and Christian Onyeni, with 223 votes, while his rivals did not score any votes.
The 231 delegates drawn from the 77 wards in Enugu East Senatorial Zone were praised for their resilience and support by the Chairman of the LP in Enugu State, Casmir Agbo.
The member-elect, Enugu North and South Federal Constituency, Chimaobi Atu, expressed joy that the delegates unanimously elected Chukwu to fly the party’s flag on behalf of his late elder brother.
On his part, Chukwu promised to fulfil his late brother’s dreams and make the people of Enugu East Senatorial Zone proud.
He added that the family is yet to recover from the murder of their elder brother and his personal aides, who were gruesomely shot and burnt just two days before the previous election.
He vowed to seek justice for his late brother and urged the authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly and bring his killers to book.