The two regions account for about 55 per cent of the 240 polling units listed in the data released by INEC.
Nigeria’s North-east and South-east zones have the highest number of polling units (PUs) where the coming general elections will not hold with 67 and 64 units respectively.
Both regions account for 54.59 per cent of the total 240 PUs listed by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and analysed by PREMIUM TIMES.
INEC Chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu, a professor, had disclosed during a meeting with leaders of the 18 registered political parties on Monday in Abuja that the coming national and state elections will not hold in the 240 PUs across the country.
The PUs are part of the newly created ones. INEC expanded the number of polling units in the country from 119,973 to 176,846 as part of efforts to decongest existing polling units.
Since there are no voters in the 240 PUs, elections will only be held in 176,606 PUs across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the INEC Chairman
According to Mr Yakubu, security was a major reason no voter chose any of the polling units or requested a transfer of PUs to these places during the recently concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) between June 2021 and July 2022.
While the presidential and national assembly elections hold on 25 February, the governorship and state assembly election will be conducted on 11 March.
Regional, States Distribution
According to the analysis by this newspaper, while the North-east holds 27.92 per cent, the South-east accounts for 26.67 per cent.
Interestingly, they are two regions where insecurity is at its peak.
They are followed by the North-central zone with 49 (20.42%) PUs, North-west with 47 (19.58%) PUs, South-south with eight (3.33%) PUs and South-west with five (2.08%) PUs.
Imo and Taraba States also topped the list of states with the highest number of PUs where the polls will not be conducted. While the former has 38, the latter has 34 respectively.
They are followed by Abia in the South-east, Borno in North-east and Katsina in North-west 12 PUs each.
According to the list of polling units provided by INEC and analysed by this newspaper, the North-east region has 67 PUs across five states where the coming general elections will not be held. Only Gombe State has zero records of such in the region. Taraba has 34 polling units, 12 in Borno and 11 in Yobe state. Bauchi and Adamawa account for six and four respectively in the region.
The South-east has a total of 64 polling units across all five states in the region, where elections will not be held. Imo State tops the list with 38 PUs, Abia with 12, Anambra with 6, while Ebonyi and Enugu have four PUs each.
In the North-central, there are a total of 49 polling units across six states. In this region, Kogi is the only state without a PU where elections will not be held. The FCT and Nasarawa have 11 polling units each, and Benue and Niger have 10 each. While Plateau has six such PUs, Kwara has only one.
Meanwhile, in the North-west, all seven states in the region contributed a total of 47 PUs. Katsina has 12 polling units and 10 in Kano state. Sokoto and Kaduna States have eight each and five in Kebbi state. While Jigawa has three PUs, Zamfara has only one.
In the South-south, four states account for a total of eight PUs. Delta accounts for four PUs 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 three PUs are listed in Lagos, Ondo has two.
INEC has scheduled the elections to begin with the presidential and national assembly elections on 25 February and continue with the governorship and states houses of assembly election two weeks later on 11th March.
PREMIUM TIMES
