SPECIAL REPORT: Intrigues as eligible voters in Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi pick new governors today
Eligible voters in three Nigerian states; Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi will troop out enmasse to exercise their civil rights today by electing who leads them for the next four years.
NewsClick Nigeria reports that while the incumbent governors of Imo (Hope Uzodimma) and Bayelsa (Duoye Diri) are seeking re-election for second terms, Kogi’s Yahaya Bello is at the departure lounge and will handover baton of leadership to either his anointed and party’s candidate or a fresh face from the opposition.
However, the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) it was prepared to ensure the elections are credible, fair and transparent.
It said over 94 percent of voters across the three states had collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
Parties and candidates
Major political parties with candidates participating in the governorship election in the three states include; All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Bayelsa State
In Bayelsa, 16 candidates will be slugging it out to win the top seat of the oil-rich state.
The major three candidates include the incumbent Governor Douye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former governor and the immediate Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Udengmobofa Eradiri of the Labour Party (LP).
Kogi State
According to the candidates’ list published by INEC, the governorship elections in Kogi State will be keenly contested by 18 candidates.
Kogi faces substantial security issues. Flooding is also a perennial issue in the north-central state.
Among the leading candidates jostling for the number one seat in the state are Murtala Yakubu Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dino Melaye of the PDP, Ododo Usman Ahmed, APC, and Leke Abejide of African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Imo State
Insecurity has been a major challenge in the Southeast region, and it has led to the deaths of more than 1,700 people between January 2021 and June 2023.
Deaths occur from protests, armed clashes, abductions, mob violence, activities of secessionist groups, riots, electoral violence, and other causes.
Insecurity affects all five states: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo.
In Imo, INEC cleared 17 candidates for the forthcoming election.
The major candidates are the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodinma of the APC, Athan Nneji Aconu, LP and Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP.
INEC’s readiness
Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi said the Commission had deployed over 46,000 adhoc workers for the elections, even as he gave assurance that the commission had enough extra Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) to cover all polling units (Pus).
A total of 5,169,692 registered voters are expected to decide who emerge governors in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa states today.
Speaking on its readiness for the elections, INEC said it had made adequate logistical arrangements and that checks were underway to ascertain the implementation of the various activities expected to take place before, during, and after the elections.
He said sensitive materials were dropped at the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) branches in the three states from Thursday from where they would be dispatched to the various local government areas.
He said 12 out of the 13 items listed in the commission’s timetable and schedule of activities for the elections had been carried out.
He said the final activity – the 13th – is today’s election.
“We have made Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) available for collection and I am pleased to say that between 94 and 95 percent of voters across the three states had collected their PVCs.
“For instance, out of the 1,017,613 registered voters in Bayelsa State, only 39,249 have not collected their PVCs. In Imo State, we have 101, 003 uncollected PVCs out of 2,318,919 registered voters, and in Kogi State where we have 1,833,160 registered voters, only 99,494 PVCs are uncollected.
“We will be deploying over 46,000 regular and ad-hoc staff for the elections. Several trainings have already taken place, and more are ongoing. There are 10,510 Polling Units across the three states, but voting will not take place in 38 polling units in Imo State and two polling units in Bayelsa State because they don’t have any registered voters attached to them.
“We have made adequate arrangements to deploy enough extra Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems (BVAS) to cover all PUs. We will also deploy adequate number of technical personnel to respond immediately in the unlikely event of any complaints over the functionality of the BVAS at any polling unit on Election Day.”
He recalled that mock accreditations in mid-October to test the functionality of the BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in the three states showed overall positive results.
“Polling unit results will be uploaded to the IReV from the individual PUs after the close of polls. Right now, we have improved on and upgraded the IReV to look for certain security features on our Polling Unit Result Sheets before accepting them. Specifically, when our presiding officers attempt to upload Form EC8As from their polling units to the IReV on Election Day, the portal now possesses the protocols to scan the forms for certain security features.”
He explained that if these security features are missing, the IReV will reject that particular Form EC8A or Polling Unit Result Sheet.
“This is to ensure that only our legitimate PU result sheets are uploaded to our IReV.
“As you are aware, voters must present their PVCs with which they will be authenticated and accredited using the BVAS. No PVC, no voting. So far, we have accredited 137,934 polling units and collation agents for the 18 political parties fielding candidates for the elections.”
He further disclosed that 94 media organisations and their 1,255 personnel as well as 126 national and international organisations and their 11,000 observers had been accredited.
For these off-season governorship elections, he said the Commission would collaborate with the transport union, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) at the state level and, of course, the individual vehicle and boat owners for forward and reverse logistics.
“We are paying the vehicle and boat owners directly and a Memorandum of Understanding containing the terms and rules of engagement have been signed and sealed.”
Likely violence
On the threat of violence, the Commission said it had made it very clear to political parties and their candidates that provocative remarks as well as violent acts that threaten the peace of candidates in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states will not be tolerated.
“However, we rely on members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to provide adequate security before, during, and after the elections in the three States.,” he added.
The Bayelsa State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) confirmed the abduction of a Supervisory Presiding Officer (SPO) assigned to Registration Area – 06 (Ossioma) in Sagbama local government area of the State.
In a statement issued late Friday night in Yenagoa and signed by the INEC head of voter education and publicity department, Mr. Wilfred Ifogah, the electoral commission said that the SPO, whose name was not disclosed, was abducted while waiting to board a boat to his area of assignment at Amassoma Jetty.
