OFF-CYCLE ELECTIONS: BAYELSA, IMO, KOGI VOTERS TROOP OUT TO ELECT GOVERNORS

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Voters in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States are today electing governors to run the affairs of their respective states for the next four years.

In October 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the timetable for the elections.

The tenure of Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State will end on January 14, 2024. Those of Yahaya Bello of Kogi and Senator Douye Diri of Bayelsa will end on January 26, 2024, and February 13, 2024, respectively.

The three governors are facing the political battles of their lives. While Diri and Uzodimma are fighting for re-election, Bello is battling to get his anointed candidate, Usman Ododo, elected.

Voters in these states will be making choices among 52 governorship candidates. Of these, 50 are males.

Furthermore, there are 45 deputy governorship candidates, while seven are females.

The voters

Bayelsa

For Bayelsa State election, there are 1,056,862 registered voters. However, those with PVCs are 1,017,613. Uncollected PVCs are 39,249, while the number of parties contesting is 16.

There are two female governorship candidates and five female deputy governorship candidates.

Imo

In Imo State, below is how it is:

*Registered voters: 2,419,922
*Uncollected PVCs: 101,003

*Voters with PVCs: 2,318,919
*Number of parties contesting: 18
*Two female deputy governorship candidates running.

Kogi

*Registered voters 1,932,654
*Uncollected PVCs 107,715

*Voters with PVCs 1,824,939
*Number of parties contesting 18
*Five female deputy governorship candidates

Chief Press Secretary to the former Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi disclosed this in a statement on Friday night.

He said, “The attention of the Independent National Electoral Commission has been drawn to a story attributed to unknown “concerned workers” of the Commission that passwords for result upload have been withdrawn from LGA Supervisors for use by APO1s in Imo State. This is untrue.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Presiding Officers (POs), and not APO1s, are responsible for the result upload to the IReV.

“All the passwords have been securely released for use by designated officials in line with the Commission’s procedure.

“The public should expect more of such insinuations before, during, and after the elections and continue to discountenance them.”