The north-eastern and south-eastern areas of Nigeria have the highest number of electoral units (PUs) where the next general election will not take place with 67 and 64 units respectively.
Both regions concentrate 54.59 percent of the total 240 PU listed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and analyzed by PREMIUM TIMES.
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, a professor, revealed during a meeting with the leaders of the 18 registered political parties on Monday in Abuja that the upcoming national and state elections will not take place in the 240 UPs across the country.
The UPs are part of the newly created ones. INEC expanded the number of voting units in the country from 119,973 to 176,846 as part of efforts to decongest existing voting units.
As there are no voters in the 240 UPs, elections will only be held in 176,606 UPs from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the INEC president said
According to Mr. Yakubu, security was one of the main reasons why no voters chose any of the voting units or requested a PU transfer to these locations during the recently concluded Rolling Voter Registration (CVR) between June 2021 and July 2022.
While the presidential and national assembly elections will be held on February 25, the gubernatorial and state assembly elections will be held on March 11.
Regional, States Distribution
According to the analysis of this newspaper, while the Northeast accounts for 27.92 percent, the Southeast accounts for 26.67 percent.
Curiously, these are two regions where insecurity is at its peak.
It is followed by the Central-North zone with 49 (20.42%) UP, Northwest with 47 (19.58%) UP, South-South with eight (3.33%) UP and Southwest with five (2.08%). UP.
Imo and Taraba states also topped the list of states with the highest number of PUs where the surveys will not take place. While the former is 38, the latter is 34 respectively.
They are followed by Abia in the southeast, Borno in the northeast, and Katsina in the northwest with 12 UP each.
According to the list of polling stations provided by the INEC and analyzed by this newspaper, the Northeast region has 67 UPs in five states where the next general elections will not be held. Only Gombe State has no such records in the region. Taraba has 34 voting units, 12 in Borno and 11 in Yobe State. Bauchi and Adamawa represent six and four respectively in the region.
REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF VOTING UNITS WITH ZERO VOTERS
The southeast has a total of 64 voting units in the five states of the region, where no elections will be held. Imo State tops the list with 38 PU, Abia with 12, Anambra with 6, while Ebonyi and Enugu each have four PU.
In the center-north, there are a total of 49 voting units in six states. In this region, Kogi is the only non-UP state where no elections will be held. The FCT and Nasarawa have 11 voting units each, and Benue and Niger have 10 each. While Plateau has six such PUs, Kwara only has one.
Meanwhile, in the Northwest, the seven states in the region contributed a total of 47 UPs. Katsina has 12 voting units and 10 in Kano State. Sokoto and Kaduna states have eight each and Kebbi state has five. While Jigawa has three PUs, Zamfara only has one.
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In the South-South, four states concentrate a total of eight UPs. Delta has four UPs and Bayelsa two. Edo and Rivers have only one PU each.
Two states in the Southwest account for the total of five PUs listed. While Lagos has three PUs, Ondo has two.
INEC has scheduled the elections to begin with presidential and national assembly elections on February 25 and continue with gubernatorial and state assembly elections two weeks later on March 11.