Nigerians in three states — Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo— are proceeding to the ballot box today to elect governors, marking the first off-cycle exercise since the 2023 general elections that would put INEC’s commitment to electronic transmission of results to test.

The electoral office said the three states have a combined 5,409,438 registered voters as of the final compilation ahead of Saturday’s exercise, out of which 5,169,692 permanent voter cards (PVCs) were collected. Specifically, 1,017,613 PVCs were collected in Bayelsa; eligible voters picked up 1,833,160 PVCs in Kogi; while 2,318,919 were collected in Imo, according to INEC’s data shared with Peoples Gazette. 

In Bayelsa, Governor Duoye Diri is seeking a second term against former governor Timipre Sylva, who is seeking to return to power after being ousted by the court over a previous election fraud. Voters across the state’s eight local government areas would decide whether or not there are fundamental differences between the candidates to make them either drop the incumbent, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or knock the controversial public record of Mr Sylva, who is of the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

Voters in Kogi are facing three choices. Usman Ododo of the APC, perhaps better known as incumbent Governor Yahaya Bello’s anointed successor, will square up with Dino Melaye, a former senator of the PDP, and Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The stage is also set for a similar showdown in Imo, where three political bigwigs are slugging it out. Governor Hope Uzodimma of the APC is seeking to beat back two candidates, Senator Athan Achonu of the Labour Party, and Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the PDP, to get a second term of four years. 

Most analysts say the outcome would be difficult to predict across the three states, especially because violence and intimidation may be deployed by politicians, who saw how the Supreme Court rewarded thuggery and massive system failures of INEC in the last election. 

Despite the failures, INEC has assured parties and voters that the election would be transmitted live, but the agency has continued to endure a credibility crisis after it failed to rely on results uploaded to its servers during the presidential election. When the situation was challenged, INEC said it decided to transmit some results manually after system failure, and the Supreme Court agreed that the electoral office reserved the power to change its published guidelines even election had already commenced. 

Today’s election would help voters understand whether INEC’s systems have improved since February when they were deployed on a large scale as part of efforts to curb voter fraud often associated with human involvement in the transmission process. 

The Gazette’s reporters will be present when polling stations open at 8:00 a.m. across the three states, which span the marshy creeks of Bayelsa, lush palm plantations of Imo and the rocky ridges of Kogi.