Expectations are sky high in Africa’s most populous nation as millions head to the polls to elect the next president and National Assembly members old and new.With many describing the historic presidential poll as a three-horse race, the consensus is that this is Nigeria’s most competitive to date.
Power Of The PVC
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s voter register totals 94 million, and no fewer than 87.2 million of them have obtained their permanent voter cards (PVCs) in anticipation of the nationwide vote today as well as on March 11 for the governorship and state houses of assembly elections.
The top three states in collected PVCs are Lagos (6,214,970), Kano (5,594,193) and Kaduna (4,335,208).On the flipside, the lowest card collections by state are Ekiti (958,052), Bayelsa (1,009,895) and Yobe (1,437,851).
In total, 4,223 candidates were initially expected to contest 469 federal legislative offices.However, that number will see a slight drop with INEC’s suspension of the poll in the Enugu East senatorial district over the gruesome murder of the Labour Party candidate, Oyibo Chukwu, three days ago.
The Enugu East election has been postponed to March 11.The Road To BVASThe Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is considered by some to be an unsung hero of the 2023 elections.
INEC has made giant strides in the technological advancement of the electoral process such that the Commission’s efforts have led to BVAS’ use this year, for the first time in any general elections.It represents a significant upgrade from the Smart Card Reader which held sway in the 2015 and 2019 general elections, and proved susceptible to compromise by election riggers.
