The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) takes centre stage once more, this time for the conduct of governorship and state house of assembly elections across the country.
The elections come three weeks after a tense round of presidential and National Assembly elections that drew mixed reactions from domestic and international stakeholders.
What’s next? Elections centred on the state.
The elections were originally scheduled for March 11. However, the aftermath of the presidential election caused a one-week delay in reconfiguring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices.
Amid hopes of a hitch-free exercise, Nigerians finally troop out to various polling units to cast their votes for their candidates of choice. According to INEC, a total of 87.2 million are eligible to vote, having collected their permanent voter cards (PVCs).
Of the 36 states, governorship polls will be held in 28, namely Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.
Over the next four years, each of the other eight states – Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun and Ondo – will get their chance, separately, held off-season due to litigations and court judgements.
As for the state legislatures, all 36 states are the home bases of thousands competing for 993 state house of assembly seats.