108,000 Kogi voters won’t participate in November 11 election – REC gives reasons

Over 100,000 Registered Voters to Sit Out Kogi Governorship Election

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi State, Gabriel Longpet, has revealed that a staggering 108,000 registered voters are set to abstain from participating in the upcoming governorship election on November 11.

This substantial figure corresponds to the number of registered voters who failed to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) during the four-week window provided by INEC, spanning from September 10 to October 9, 2023.

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In an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Lokoja, the Kogi REC disclosed that by the close of the collection period on October 9, only 20,000 PVCs had been retrieved out of the outstanding 128,000 uncollected prior to the general election in February 2023.

Longpet expressed his disappointment, stating, “within the period of four weeks, we were not able to distribute to people the number of PVCs we estimated because people didn’t come to collect their cards.

Actually, just about 20,000 out of the 128,000 were collected during the period of the four weeks.”

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Notably, Kogi conducts its gubernatorial election outside INEC’s regular election calendar due to past political crises and subsequent legal injunctions.

In the previous presidential election held on February 25, 2023, out of 1.65 million registered voters, only 476,038 individuals cast their votes, indicating that just one in every four registered voters in the state participated. Additionally, 128,000 PVCs remained uncollected.

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Addressing concerns about accessibility to flood-prone and riverine areas in the state for the smooth movement of election materials and personnel, the REC assured that special arrangements, including collaboration with the Air Force and Navy, are being made to facilitate transportation.

Dr. Longpet also emphasized that ad-hoc staff must ensure that their transfer accounts are with banks recognized by the Central Bank of Nigeria to avoid payment delays after the election, cautioning against the use of online banks not recognized by the CBN.