Enugu2023: PDP comes 4th in Enugu online governorship poll, as Labour sustains lead

Signs that the people of Enugu State have totally rejected the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have continued to emerge, with the ruling party in the state placing a distant fourth position in an online poll seeking to determine who would become the Governor of the State in the 2023 elections.

The poll, the first of its kind conducted by Energy FM 105.5, sought to find out who the preferred candidate of the respondents was. After two weeks, the poll, which had respondents voting only once, saw the Labour Party Governorship candidate in the State, Barr Chijioke Edeoga massing 24.2 percent of the votes, while C. D. Ogbe, of the Action Alliance, came second, with 16.2 percent of the votes.

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Uche Nnaji, was the third most preferred candidate, closing with 4.2 percent of the votes, while the ruling PDP’s candidate, Barr Peter Mbah, won the hearts of only 4.1 percent of votes to return as the 4th most preferred candidate, closely followed by, Frank Nweke Jr. of APGA, and Chris Agu, the candidates of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the one of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).

Energy FM, which announced the results in a statement published Monday evening said: "After the collation of results by our in-house panel, Labour Party came tops with 24.2% of the votes, while Action Alliance came second with 16.2% of the votes; APC completed the third position with 4.2% of the total votes; other parties that scored 4th, 5th and 6th were PDP, APGA, and PRP respectively....with invalid votes making up 10% of the total online votes."

It is the third time polls are pointing toward LP's Edeoga as the candidate expected to win the governorship election in Enugu State in March 2023.

Until a new electoral law came into force early this year, Enugu had remained a one-party state, as the PDP had always had it easy winning all elections in the state. However, with the amendments to the Electoral Laws of the country, guaranteeing the integrity of voting, the people of the state appear willing to speak their minds at the polls, with poll after poll pointing to the desire of the people for a total departure from the past.

The emergence of Barr Chijjioke Edeoga as the Labour Party Gubernatorial candidate for Enugu State has since raised the bar in political campaign messaging in the state. Edeoga has sustained an engagement strategy that is endearing him to the people. A look at his campaign calendar indicates that he plans to visit all the wards in the state. If he completes this, he would be the first person seeking to be elected as governor to visit all council wards in the state for campaigns.

People the Edeoga phenomenon changed the narrative, it was traditional for people that emerged as PDP candidates for elections to begin to celebrate victory immediately after party nominations. But with the people increasingly demanding a new order, all the political parties in the state appear to be working hard to win the votes of the people.

Having superintended the affairs of the state since the return of democracy in 1999, with little to show for their stewardship, it is becoming increasingly hard for the PDP to find convincing anchor for their messages, a situation that is clearly manifesting in the outcome of the Energy FM poll, and other previous polls.