Off-season elections: INEC announces 177,911 new voters

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared a figure of 177,911 as the preliminary figures of newly registered voters ahead of the Edo and Ondo State governorship elections slated for September and November, respectively.

The Commission revealed this on Monday in a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun made available to journalists in Abuja.

In a breakdown of the figure, the Commission gave 119,206 as new registrants in Edo and and 58,708 for Ondo State.

The statement however clarified that “these figures do not include the 8,847 applications for transfer into Edo State and the 3,132 into Ondo State from other states of the Federation. Similarly, they do not include applications for transfer within the two states because they are already captured on the register of voters.”

The Commission further hinted that in the next few days, it will release the comprehensive and final register of voters to be used for the 2024 governorship elections for each of the two states.

The statement read in part:” Nigerians may recall that in our press statement on Tuesday 11th June 2024, we released the preliminary figures of newly registered voters for the forthcoming Edo and Ondo State governorship elections before the period for claims and objections, followed by the cleaning up of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). These processes have now been concluded.

“The number of new voters for Edo State is 119,206 and 58,708 for Ondo State. These figures do not include the 8,847 applications for transfer into Edo State and the 3,132 into Ondo State from other states of the Federation. Similarly, they do not include applications for transfer within the two states because they are already captured on the register of voters.

“The figures of the new voters and inter-state transfers are being integrated into the existing register. In the next few days, the Commission will release the comprehensive and final register of voters to be used for the 2024 governorship elections for each of the two states.

“Meanwhile, the analysis of new voters for Edo and Ondo States, indicating their distribution by local government areas, gender, age, occupation and disability has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.”

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