Abuja, Jan.12, 2023 – Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the 2023 general elections will hold as scheduled.
Yakubu re-affirmed the commitment of INEC to the election time-table while speaking at the presentation of the National Register of Voters to political parties in Abuja on Wednesday.
“The Commission is not contemplating any adjustment to the election timetable, let alone the postponement of the general election.
“Any report to the contrary is not the official position of the Commission.
“The repeated assurance by the security agencies for the adequate protection of our personnel, materials and processes also reinforces our determination to proceed,” he said.
Yakubu said that since the release of the time and schedule for the conduct of the elections on Feb. 26, 2022, the Commission had been relentlessly implementing the 14 step by step activities listed in the timetable.
“With the presentation of the register of voters to political parties at this meeting, the Commission has now successfully implemented 11 out of the 14 activities on schedule.
Furthermore, the implementation of other activities has proceeded in earnest.
“Already, substantial quantities of sensitive and non-sensitive materials have been deployed to various locations across the country.
“The last batch of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) has been received, while the ongoing configuration of the critical technology in readiness for elections will soon be completed.
“In the last two days, we commenced the airlifting of other sensitive materials to states across the country.
“Already, some of the materials for 17 States in three geo-political zones have been delivered.
“Furthermore, 13,868,441 Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) have been printed, delivered to states and are being collected by citizens as new voters or by existing voters who applied for transfer or replacement of cards as provided by law.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday 25th February 2023 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold two weeks later on Saturday 11th March 2023.
“As a further affirmation of the Commission’s readiness to conduct the 2023 General Election as scheduled, the final register of voters has been compiled.
“Consequently, the register of voters for the 2023 General Election stands at 93,469,008. Of this cumulative figure, 49,054,162 (52.5%) are male while 44,414,846 (47.5%) are female.
“The distribution by age group shows that 37,060,399 (39.65%) are youth between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75%) are middle aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49; 17,700,270 (18.94%) are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69 while 5,294,748 (5.66%) are senior citizens aged 70 and above.
“In terms of occupational distribution, students constitute the largest category with 26,027,481 (27.8%) of all voters, followed by 14,742,554 (15.8%) farmers/fishermen and 13,006,939 (13.9%) housewives,” he said. (GBN)
