Not less than 95 million eligible voters would determine Nigeria’s next president, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the disclosure on Wednesday at an event organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and Yiaga Africa at the NED Headquarters, Washington DC.
According to the INEC boss, there are 15 countries including Nigeria in West Africa but that the total number of registered voters in the 14 countries combined is 73million.
“It is exactly 136 days to the 2023 general election. It is the seventh successive general election since the restoration of democracy in Nigeria 23 years ago in 1999. This is the longest unbroken period of democracy and democratic elections since independence from British colonial rule 62 years ago in 1960.”
“We have never had this long spell of unbroken period of democracy, democratic governance and elections. The election is significant because the incumbent President is not eligible to run, this being his second and final term.
“There are 18 political parties in the race to produce the next President to be elected by 95m voters. We had over 84m registered voters in 2019. But with last Continuous Registration of Voters (CVR), we are going to add at least 10m Nigerians and that will take the Register of Voters to 95m,” Yakubu said.