The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents have been registered to participate in the upcoming governorship polls scheduled for November 11, 2023, in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states.
According to the released list of polling and collation agents by the electoral body on Tuesday, it was revealed that 34,704 agents were registered for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State, culminating in a collective total of 137,973 agents. Sam Olumekun, the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, affirmed the validity of this data in a signed statement.
However, the Commission emphasized that not all political parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centers across the states. Remarkably, some political parties, despite fielding candidates in the election, did not designate any polling unit or collation agents in specific states.
In conjunction with the announcement, INEC also published an Information Booklet outlining the comprehensive details of the three governorship polls. The booklet features an informative infographic summarizing the registered voters, the count of Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) collected categorized by Local Government Areas (LGAs), and the distribution of registered voters by gender, age group, occupation, and disability.
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“The publication also includes the list of candidates and detailed information on the two polling units in Bayelsa and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The Commission has repeatedly said that elections will not hold in these polling units. No materials have been produced for these locations and no officials will be deployed to them.
“Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa State and 18 in both Imo and Kogi States. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).
“Each political party is expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA and three State collation centres.”
