Gov Polls: Voting begins in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi
Voters in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states have begun casting their ballots in the governorship elections, with voting initiating at approximately 8:30 am in polling units.
According to Channel TV, the accreditation of voters and the voting process kicked off simultaneously following the arrival of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials at the polling units, equipped with both sensitive and non-sensitive materials.
The Numbers
Over five million voters in the three states hold the power to determine who will occupy the governor’s office for the next four years, with analysts emphasizing the significant influence of the youths and middle-aged citizens, who make up over 60% of the total number of PVCs collected in the states.
In Imo State, INEC gave the figure of the registered voters as 2, 419,922 and Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected as 2,318,919 with youths and the middle age demographical groups having 33% (801K) and 32% (783K).
In Kogi, the total number of registered voters is 1,932,654 and PVCs collected is 1,833,160 with youths taking a lump 44% (850k) and the middle-aged having 32% (341K)
For Bayelsa, the total number of registered voters is 1,056,862 whilst total PVCs collected put at 1,017,613 with youths taking 42% (439K) and the middle-aged having 40% (424K).
The Gladiators
Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa and 18 in both Imo and Kogi. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units across the 56 local government areas in the three states (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
The electoral umpire deployed nine Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and two national commissioners to each of the three states for Saturday’s governorship elections.
INEC also deployed 46,000 staff of the commission to the three states while sensitive and non-sensitive materials including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines have arrived at the polling units.
The electoral umpire has also assured voters that the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) would work today despite the glitches experienced with the technology in the February 25, 2023 presidential poll.
Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State are seeking re-election in their respective states whilst Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is out of the ballot, nearing the completion of his double terms of eight years.
Some of the top contenders in the November 11, 2023 poll in Kogi include Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP); Leke Abejide of the African Democratic Party (ADC); Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); and Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who is an ex-Auditor General of Local Government in Kogi under Bello.
For Imo, PDP’s Samuel Anyanwu; and Labour Party’s Achonu Nneji; Jack Ogunewe of the Action Alliance; All Progressives Grand Alliance’s Ejiogu Anthony; amongst others will be challenging APC’s Uzodimma at the poll while in Bayelsa, APC’s Timipre Sylva, amongst others will slug it out at the poll with PDP’s Diri.
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