The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday allayed the fears of Nigerians over the forthcoming 2023 general elections, insisting that the elections will hold as planned.
INEC National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu said the elections will hold as scheduled, adding that no adjustment has been made to the timetable.
On Wednesday, Yakubu met with the leadership of the 18 political parties at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, where he presented the 2023 voter register to the parties ahead of the elections as required by the 2022 Electoral Act.
“The 2023 general elections will hold as scheduled. Any report to the contrary isn’t true,” he said.
The voter register says there are 93,469,008 registered voters for the general elections – 44,414,846 females and 49,054,162 males.
According to the register, there are 37,060,399 young people between the ages of 18 and 34, representing 39.65 per cent of the total registered voters while elderly persons between the ages of 50 and 69 are 17,700,270, representing 18.94 per cent of the total registered voters.
Similarly, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Kwara State, Mallam Attahiru Madami, also said the elections will hold while speaking at the 2023 annual lecture of the National League of Veteran Journalists (NALVEJ), Kwara state council in Ilorin.
He charged Nigerians to be responsible and avoid violence to ensure peaceful polls.
“INEC has assured that election will hold despite the doubts by some Nigerians. Youths should be admonished to shun violence. Women should do that, especially mothers. We should all preach unity. Violence will take us nowhere,” he said.
