Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said the number of newly-registered voters stood at 6,906,411 as at March 27, 2018.
He said the new figures were captured in 1,446 registration centres across the country with Rivers State topping the list of fresh voters’ registration.
Other states with high registration numbers are Anambra, Borno, Delta, Lagos, Cross River, Osun, Enugu, Kano and Plateau in that order.
Yakubu announced the figures yesterday at a national colloquium organised by the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG), a non-governmental organisation that focuses on election monitoring in Abuja.
INEC said a comprehensive list of the newly-registered voters would be published on its website before the end of the week to enable Nigerians scrutinise the figures.
He described the feat as laudable because approximately seven million people would have been disenfranchised in the 2019 general elections had they not been successfully registered.
While expressing satisfaction that this has been largely due to voter enlightenment by relevant stakeholders, he said the electoral body had not received a single petition or complaint regarding the registration exercise.
He pointed out that INEC was committed to ensuring that the 2019 general elections would be better than the 2015 poll.
Yakubu also disclosed that there was an attempt to drag the commission into the political arena, adding that electoral umpire would continue to resist the temptation.
Meanwhile, convener of the colloquium, Chima Amadi, described the progress recorded by INEC under its new leadership as an indication of an organisation that is responding positively to the wishes of Nigerians as the 2019 general elections draw nearer.
He said it was unfortunate that security agencies and political gladiators were not measuring up to standards even as the election draws closer, but were rather busy devising means to frustrate the electoral process.
