The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday announced that 93.5 million Nigerians were registered to vote in the 2023 general elections. The figure totals the 12.29 million Nigerians who completed the suspended Continuous Voter Registration exercise (CVR) and the 84,004,084 voters already in the existing register.
State of play
A breakdown of the preliminary register shows that six of the populous states in the country have the highest number of registered voters, including Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Rivers, Katsina and Oyo.
- A further breakdown indicates that Lagos constitutes 7.57 percent, Kano 6.34 percent, Kaduna 4.65 percent, Rivers 3.77 percent, Katsina 3.76 percent and Oyo 3.51 percent. This totals 27.68m or 29.59 per cent of the entire registered voters.
- According to 2019 data, Kano, Lagos, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi, Oyo and Rivers states were the seven most populous states in the country. The cumulative total of their population is 66,739,591.
- However, Bauchi state didn’t make the list of the top seven states with the most registered voters.
Why it matters
The states with the highest number of registered voters play a vital role in deciding the eventual winner of presidential elections.