Kogi, Bayelsa Guber Polls: INEC Releases Data of EligibleVoters

Chuks Okocha

With less than 16 days to the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday officially released the data of eligible voters in the two states as well as the Kogi West senatorial district elections taking place the same date being November 16.

According to INEC Chairman, Professor Mahood Yakubu, “Bayelsa State has eight local government areas, 105 Registration Areas (RAs), 1,804 Polling Units (PUs) and 923,182 registered voters of which

498,790 (54.3 percent) are male while 424,392 (45.97 percent) are female.”

He further stated that “the number of PVCs collected across the state as at September 30, 2019, is 889,308 (96.3 percent) with 33,874 (3.76) remain uncollected.”

For Kogi State, Yakubu said the “state has 21 LGAs, 239 RAs, 2,548 PUs while the number of registered voters is 1,646,350 of which 825,663 (50.1 percent) are male and 820,687 (49.9 percent) are female.

“The number of PVCs collected is 1,485,828 (90.2 percent) leaving 160,522 (9.8 percent) uncollected. The Commission will make available detailed figures of PVCs collected in each state by LGA and Registration Areas as part of our continuing effort to deepen transparency and accountability.”

The INEC chairman said copies of the data would be made available at the Commission stakeholders’ meetings in Yenagoa and Lokoja, adding that the same information will also be uploaded on the Commission’s website.

On the Nembe state constituency supplementary election in Bayelsa State, he said it would have been held seven months ago but for protracted litigation, and that it was finally settled by the Supreme Court.

Yakubu said the elections would take place in six polling units with a total of 2,076 registered voters.

On the Kogi West senatorial election, he said the total number of registered voters in the senatorial district is 432,515.

Meanwhile, Yakubu said all uncollected PVCs have been retrieved from LGA offices and deposited at the branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Bayelsa and Kogi States for safe keeping pending the resumption of Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

The INEC chairman said at the end of the governorship primaries in both states, 45 political parties in Bayelsa State (42 male and three female) and 23 in Kogi (21 male and 2 female) would be on the ballot.