The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has published a total of 87,209,007 eligible voters cleared out of the 93.5 million it registered to participate in the 2023 elections.

The electoral umpire announced the figures together with other rules guiding the voting exercise of tomorrow’s Presidential and National Assembly elections and the March 11 governorship and state Assembly polls.

The 87.2 million record number of voters were issued their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) after vetting and removing invalid registrants, according to INEC. The total number of registered voters in Nigeria stood at 93,469,008, while the number of uncollected PVCs is 6,259,229, according to data released by the electoral body on Wednesday.

The deadline for collection of PVCs, which is a requirement for voting in Nigeria, ended on February 5.

The data shared by INEC shows Lagos topping the chart of PVCs collected in states across the country with 6,214,970, followed by Kano with 5,594,193; Kaduna, 4,164,473; Katsina, 3,459,945; and, Rivers, 3,285,785. Ekiti state with 958, 052, has the lowest figure of PVCs collected and also the lowest number of registered voters.

Data on PVCs collected across the geo-political zones shows that the Southeast has unusual number of voters’ registration and PVC collection this time. However, the North-West leads other zones in the number of PVCs collected with 21,445,000; South-West, 15,536,213; North-Central, 14,603,621; South-South, 13,284,920; North-East, 11,937,769; and, South-East, 10,401,484.

Speaking at a news conference; which had in attendance, former President of Malawi, Joyce Banda, leaders of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Abuja on Wednesday, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced the dos and don’ts of the electoral exercise.

Chairmen of the electoral commissions of the Republic of Benin, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Tanzania and Niger Republic as well as members of the Diplomatic Corps. were also in attendance when Yakubu disclosed that the commission would upload the PVC data collection disaggregation on polling unit basis to its website by Friday.

In his address, Yakubu touched many areas of the electoral process that have been of concern to Nigerians, including timely deployment of electoral materials, assuring voters and election observers that INEC is fully prepared and ready to conduct free and fair elections.

“This election is a huge logistical deployment. We have painstakingly procured, organized and delivered all the materials to the States for deployment. We commenced the delivery of non-sensitive materials over two months ago and they have been batched down to Registration Area/Ward and Pulling Unit levels.

“Sensitive materials have been delivered to the States and are presently being delivered to our Local Government Area offices. As such, these materials are only between one and two levels away from the Polling Units. We have achieved this by learning from our recent difficult experience with logistics. We have completed arrangements with the transport unions for the final leg of the movement of personnel and materials to the Polling Units. They have assured us of their readiness to provide all the vehicular needs of the Commission for the election”, he said.

Regarding the efficacy of technical tools that INEC intends to conduct the elections with, Yakubu said that the commission had also completed all the testing of its technologies, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS and the INEC Results Viewing Portal IReV.

“On 4th February 2023, we tested the BVAS in a mock accreditation exercise and uploaded the results to IReV. We are satisfied with the performance of the BVAS, which has been confirmed by several groups that observed the exercise. Lessons learnt from the exercise have helped us in the training of 10,600 Registration Area Technical Support Staff RATECHS. They will provide the necessary support to ensure that the deployment of the BVAS is without hitches,” he said.

Yakubu used the opportunity to reemphasize that there is no room for voting without PVCs.

“Let me reiterate that the procedure for voting as provided in the Electoral Act 2022 clearly makes the use of the BVAS mandatory. So, also, the use of the Permanent Voters’ Cards PVCs. The ‘No PVC, No Voting’ rule subsists.

“In the last few months, we made 13,676,907 PVCs available for collection for new voters and applicants for transfer and replacement of lost/damaged cards. While we are pleased that the rate of collection is higher than in previous years, there are still, unfortunately, many cards that were not collected,” he said.

Addressing the issue of vote-buying, the INEC Chairman said the commission is working with law enforcement agents to see that the practice, which he described as “a major threat” is curtailed.

He said one of the measures adopted by INEC is the ban on the use of mobile smartphones, which was announced earlier this week, around the voting area.

“Vote-buying remains a major threat to our democracy. We have worked closely with enforcement agencies to ensure that this is eliminated from our electoral process. We are convinced that our joint operations before and on Election Day will vastly reduce the prospect of voter inducement, which is not only illegal but immoral.

“The ban on the use of mobile phones and photographic devices at the voting cubicles is still in place. Some voters have used these devices in previous elections to snap their marked ballot papers for vote transaction. However, citizens are permitted to come to the Polling Units with these devices, as long as they do not take them to the voting cubicles. Our arrangement of placing the ballot box near the voting cubicle and away from party agents remains,” he said.

Addressing the issue of insecurity, which has heightened in the buildup of the elections through series of deadly attacks on INEC’s facilities, Yakubu said the commission has fully recovered and is ready to fulfill its obligation following assurance from security agencies that its staff will be protected.

He further noted that the electoral body is working with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to beat the current fuel scarcity that has been fingered as a potential hindrance to deployment of INEC’s logistics.

“In the build-up to the general election, several of our facilities were attacked by unknown assailants in various parts of the country. I am pleased that we have fully recovered from those attacks, and we have been further assured that our facilities, staff, voters, observers, and citizens will be safe during the election.

“As a result of recent developments in the economy, we have also had to consult with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on the fuel situation. As you all know, we require Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, and Automotive Gas Oil, AGO, to power vehicles and boast for land and marine transportation as well as our generators during the election.

“We are pleased that the NNPC Limited assured us that it will ensure availability of the products for the polls. Likewise, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has assured us that it will provide us with the small amount of cash we require from our budget to cash payment to some critical service providers for the election. I must reiterate that the bulk of payment for works goods and services are still paid for by electronic transfer.

“I want to assure Nigerians that we are adequately prepared for this election. We remain fully committed to a free, fair and credible process. I want to once again declare that our allegiance is only to Nigerians. Our commitment is to ensure that in this election we put everything in place for free choice, fair contest and credible outcome”, he added.

Fellow Citizens, this is a public disclaimer and I write this with all pains. Since the political season began, jobbers for many Nigerian politicians have been working to use my name, image and likeness to deceive young people. I understand my position in our society and the associated burdens and responsibilities. Please note that I am not involved in the viral post titled “Polls: AI technology used to clone Atiku, Okowa’s voices – Expert”. My own Ndubuisi Ekekwe did not speak with anyone. Also, I have never written anything on the use of AI and cloning  within the constructs of Nigerian politics.

In short, I told my staff that no one should accept political adverts for our blog, tekedia.com. We rejected millions of naira as we wanted to avoid any advertising for politicians.  More so, I rejected offers for paid endorsements and all unholy arrangements, running into tens of millions of Naira.

But impersonations continue. Just last week, I saw my name as a co-author of a journal paper which I knew nothing about. Someone added my name, possibly to get his paper accepted; I am working to clear that with the journal. I see my name in conferences and events I have no knowledge of. But this political hack job has taken it to a new level, and please I write to you to disregard it.

I call on Vanguard, etc to take down this post and others unless this Ndubuisi Ekekwe is another Ndubuisi Ekekwe (if so, I will like to meet my Ogboo – namesake). God Bless Nigeria and please #vote tomorrow.