Voters make their way to Unit 34, Ward 4, Oke Oniyo, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti.

At of 7:49 a.m., registered voters were already at Unit 34, Ward 4, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, to verify their names on the list in preparation for today’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

Names are being checked at Oke Oniyo in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti, but INEC staff and electoral materials have yet to arrive.

PVCs/registered voters

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has released the number of registered voters for the 2023 general elections. While 87,209,007 people have received their Permanent Voter’s Cards, or PVCs, 6,259,229 PVCs have yet to be received.

Personnel in charge of security

The police have already deployed 310,973 policemen across the country’s roughly 176,000 voting units for the elections.

Polling Stations

According to the INEC, there are 176,846 polling units, but elections will only be held in 176,606 of them because 240 of the total number do not have registered voters.

Candidates for President

There are 18 people vying for the presidency to succeed President Buhari. Among them are Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and Rabiu Kwakwanso of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP.

Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party, SDP; Dumebi Kaachikwu of the African Democratic Congress, ADC; Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP; and Omoyele Sowere of the African Actin Congress, AAC are among others who have expressed interest.

Also in the race are Felix Osakwe, National Rescue Movement NRM; Prof Peter Umeadi, All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA; Dan Nwanyanwu, Zenith Labour Party, ZLP; Oluwafemi Adenuga, Boot Party, BP; Christopher Imumolen, Accord; Hamza Al-Mustapha, Action Alliance, AA; Sani Yabagi Yusuf, African Democratic Party, ADP; Malik Ibrahim Ado, Young Progressive Party, YPP; and Osita Nnadi, Action People’s Party, APP.

Chichi Ojei of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM, is the sole female candidate vying for the highest political office.

Candidates for the National Assembly

In today’s general election, 4,223 National Assembly candidates are running. However, the assassination of the Labour Party’s Enugu East Senatorial candidate, Oyibo Chukwu, by unknown gunmen while returning from a campaign outing on Thursday, February 23, has reduced the number of candidates to 4,222, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponing the senatorial election in the district to allow the Labour Party to present another candidate.

Nigerians will choose 469 parliamentarians from a field of almost 4,000 candidates. The election will be held in 176,846 Polling Stations spread throughout 109 Senate Districts and 360 Federal Constituencies in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Out of the total number of 1,101 Senatorial Candidates, 1,008 are males and 92 females; while out of the total number of 3,122 House of Representatives Candidates, 2,832 are males while 288 are females.

Also Read: Voting begins at Buhari’s voting station in Daura.