Ahead of the September 21 and November 16 Edo and Ondo governorship polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has registered 177,914 new voters in the two states.

A statement by the INEC national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, released in Abuja yesterday, showed that the number of new voters for Edo State is 119,206 while those of Ondo were 58,708.

He said these figures do not include the 8,847 applications for transfer into Edo and the 3,132 into Ondo from other states of the federation, as well as applications for transfer within the two states because they were already captured on the voters’ register.

The statement reads: “Nigerians may recall that in our Press Statement on Tuesday, 11th June 2024, we released the preliminary figures of newly registered voters for the forthcoming Edo and Ondo State governorship elections before the period for claims and objections, followed by the cleaning up of the data using the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). These processes have now been concluded.

“The number of new voters for Edo State is 119,206 and 58,708 for Ondo State. These figures do not include the 8,847 applications for transfer into Edo State and the 3,132 into Ondo State from other states. Similarly, they do not include applications for transfer within the two states because they are already captured on the voter register.

“The figures of the new voters and inter-state transfers are being integrated into the existing register.

In the next few days, the commission will release the comprehensive and final voter registration for the 2024 governorship elections for each state.

“Meanwhile, the analysis of new voters for Edo and Ondo States, indicating their distribution by local government areas, gender, age, occupation and disability, has been uploaded to our website and social media platforms for public information.”