A total of 4,613,291 Nigerians who have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are expected to participate in by-elections today.
These elections will replace members who died or resigned from their memberships of the national and state assemblies. There will also be rerun elections at designated constituencies or polling units (PUs) as ordered by the election appeal tribunals.
The elections will involve 26 states of the federation, including 9 states where two senators, four members of the House of Representatives, and three members of state Houses of Assembly will be elected in by-elections to replace members of the national and state assemblies.
The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said that the elections would fill vacancies in not less than three senatorial districts, 17 federal and 28 state constituencies spread across 80 local government areas, 575 registration areas/wards and 8,934 polling units. Out of which 4,613,291 PVCs have been collected, the registered voters are 4,904,627.
The affected states are Ebonyi, Yobe, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo, Taraba, Benue, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Jigawa, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Kano, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Sokoto and Zamfara.
Some notable vacant seats to be filled are those of President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila; Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi; Senator Ibrahim Geidam; Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, and Tanko Sununu, who all resigned to take up appointments in the present administration. There is also Isma’ila Maihanchi, a member-elect from Taraba State who died before the inauguration of the National Assembly, and Abdulkadir Danbuga from Sokoto, who died in October 2023.
The INEC chairman assured of the commission’s readiness for the elections. He said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had delivered materials to the affected locations and security operatives concluded arrangements to ensure hitch-free elections.
To ensure the security of lives and property during the elections, the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) comprising INEC, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), and all security agencies, met a fortnight ago to map strategies.
As part of measures to ensure the success of today’s elections, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, ordered the restriction of all forms of vehicular movement on roads, waterways, and other forms of transportation from 12 am to 6 pm in all the affected constituencies. The IGP also banned all security aides attached to VIPs and escorts from accompanying their principals to polling booths and collation centers during the elections. State-owned security outfits and organizations, quasi-security units, and privately owned security outfits were also barred from participating in election security management.
The Plateau state police command has stepped up security arrangements to protect lives and property in six local government areas – Jos North, Jos East, Bassa, Jos South, Riyom, and Barkin Ladi. The command warned persons who have no business in RAC centers, polling units, and collation centers to steer clear of the election premises to avoid being arrested and prosecuted by the law.
