Ahead of the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday, presented the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the updated voters register to political parties for the election.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Anugbum Onuoha, who made the presentation at the state INEC office in Benin, said going by the updated Voters’ Register Edo has 2,629, 025 intending voters.
He said the commission decided to issue the voters register to the political parties for the election in line with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended.
Onuoha revealed that prior to the recent Continuous Voter’s Registration (CVR) in the state, the total number of registered voters during the 2023 general election in Edo was 2,501,081.
Giving the breakdown of the 2024 updated Voters’ Register in Edo State, the REC explained that a total number of 119, 206 were recorded during the last CVR in the state.
Onuoha disclosed that while 8, 847 people transferred their voting centres to Edo State, 109 voters transferred their voting centres out of Edo State.
“In line with Section 10(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended, today, we shall be giving you (political parties representatives), the Official Register of Voters in Edo State and this is the 10th item in the timetable and schedule of activities for Edo State”, he said.
He added, “Recently, we did continuous voters registration and the cards have been printed and given to us. In Edo, we have a total of 119, 206 new registered voters
“In addition we have 8,847 transferred from their registration centres within the state.as provided by the law. The commission has updated the records of 4, 808 voters that applied for correction of names, addresses, and date of birth from their previous registrations.
“We also replaced the 5,406 lost , damaged PVCs. Put together, 184, 436 voters of various categories were served by the commission during the last CVR in Edo State”, he said
According to the REC, Ikpoba-Okha has the highest number of registered voters with 400,495, closely followed by Oredo Local Government Area with 357,371 Voters while Igueben Local Government Area has the least registered voters with 52,000.
While assuring that the commission is fully prepared for the conduct of the election, Onuoha, disclosed that INEC would commence the issuance of Permanent Voters Card (PVC) registered during the last CVR on August, 22 which is expected to end on September 8.
On her part, the INEC national commissioner in charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo States, Prof. Rhoda Gamus, said the commission is committed to conducting free, fair and credible election in Edo.
She urged the various political party members to abide by the electoral guidelines for the election, noting that the exercise should not be seen as a do-or-die affair.
She said: “The commission is committed to keeping strictly to the date and details in the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
“You can recall that the commission published the national register voters on the 11th, January, 2023 which was used for the conduct of the 2023 general election. The same register cannot be used this time because many people have come of age and we cannot leave them out.
“That is why the commission as part of its preparation for the election, we conducted the Continuous Voter’s Registration exercise in Edo State on 27th of May to 9th June 2024 in line with Section 9 (6) of the 2022 Electoral Act which permits the commission”.
She revealed that the commission will be conducting a mock accreditation ahead of the election, adding that the date and modalities would be communicated to the people.
However, Onuoha said the Voter Register for the election would not be given to political parties with leadership tussles in court.
