Expectations were high that the first meeting of the year between the 18 registered political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will produce headline news. Reasons for this are not far-fetched. Coming on the heels of a story two days earlier that the 2023 elections may be postponed or cancelled due to security situation in the country; it was predictable that the political class would be agitated and apprehensive over such a development; for it has implications on their planning, budget and finances.

It was therefore understandable why the hall roared in a loud applause when the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu declared:” For the avoidance of doubt, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will hold on Saturday 25th February 2023 while Governorship and State Assembly elections will hold two weeks later on Saturday 11th March 2023. The repeated assurance by the security agencies for the adequate protection of our personnel, materials and processes also reinforces our determination to proceed. The 2023 General Election will hold as scheduled. Any report to the contrary is not the official position of the Commission”.

The event of Wednesday which is the presentation of voter register is the 11th activity out of the 14 activities listed out by INEC and presented to Nigeria early in year 2022. The 11th activity is the publication of official register of voters for the election by INEC. The remaining three activities are: One, publication of the notice of poll on January 24, 2023; two, last day of campaigns by political parties and three, the dates of the election.

Publication of the voters’ register is a very important activity in the electoral process. The voters register is what the political would use to do their permutations and projections as to where their votes would come from and the demographics of the registered voters. So, for the political parties, this is a very important tool for the task ahead. According to the INEC Chairman, “the register of voters for the 2023 General Election stands at 93,469,008. Of this cumulative figure, 49,054,162 (52.5%) are male while 44,414,846 (47.5%) are female. The distribution by age group shows that 37,060,399 (39.65%) are youth between the ages of 18 and 34; 33,413,591 (35.75%) are middle aged persons between the ages of 35 and 49; 17,700,270 (18.94%) are elderly voters between the ages of 50 and 69 while 5,294,748 (5.66%) are senior citizens aged 70 and above”.

The conviviality among the political leaders was infectious. They exchanged banters and laughed as they walked into the venue of their meeting with INEC officials. A good number of Nigerians would have joined politics if this was how members of political parties behave. No rowdiness. No side talks. No exchange of blows. It was like the higher you go on the political ladder, the more polished they become. The situation in the hall became electrified when the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu entered the hall. The politicians who were coluorfully dressed got on their feet to honour Nigeria’s Chief Electoral Officer.

Prof Yakubu displayed that he is an activist and teacher. Beaming with infectious smile, he addressed the politicians in their full names and thanked them profusely for coming. He made each of the political party leaders to feel important and was never over generous with the greetings to any political party more than the other. That done, he addressed the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) members’ first meeting of the year. His 10-paragraph address was succinct, unambiguous and straight to the point. Elections shall hold as scheduled, efforts made to actualise this, how technology would be deployed to achieve the desired goal and a comprehensive breakdown of the final voters register that would be used for the elections. He ended the address by thanking IPAC for its support and patriotic cooperation.

“On this note, the Commission would like to appreciate the political parties, the leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), civil society organsations, development partners, traditional, religious and community leaders for their partnership and support in encouraging Nigerians to register and to collect their PVCs”, he stressed adding that; “the best way to reciprocate this support and the dogged determination of Nigerians to vote is to ensure a transparent election next month. This remains our avowed commitment to the people of Nigeria”.

The INEC boss had in the course of his address informed the political party leaders that a softcopy of the complete register will be presented to each political party. The complete register according to him was organised by State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit. “It is also the same register that will be used on Election Day. Hard copies of the breakdown of the register by States of the Federation and analysis by gender, age group, occupation and disability are enclosed in your folders for this meeting. The softcopy of the breakdown and analysis will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly”, he said.

“The softcopy of the complete register will be presented to each political party shortly. It is organised by State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit. It is also the same register that will be used on Election Day. Hard copies of the breakdown of the register by States of the Federation and analysis by gender, age group, occupation and disability are enclosed in your folders for this meeting. The softcopy of the breakdown and analysis will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly.

“I would like to reiterate our commitment to transparent, credible and inclusive 2023 General Election. We will continue to take every step to protect the sanctity of the votes cast by citizens and to deal with infractions, including the arrest and prosecution of persons that attempt to perpetuate illegality at Polling Units on Election Day, be they underaged voters or vote buyers” the INEC boss reassured his audience.

Responding, IPAC Chairman, Yabagi Sani commended INEC’s efforts in ensuring that power is peacefully transferred in the country; in spite of the challenges and plots by anti-democratic agents to truncate the process. Sani, who was represented by IPAC General Secretary, Yusuf Dantalle said political parties were resolved to support INEC, security agencies and traditional rulers for peaceful conduct of 2023 general election.

He said that party leaders were confidence in INEC’s technology for the election including BVAS and IReV for electronic transmission of result. According to him , the deployment of the technology would discourage vote buying and a situation where people write election results from their rooms and ask INEC official to declare it for people to go to court. “It makes evidence that so many efforts are in place to ensure that this did not work but we are equally appealing to political party leaders in the country to see that power belongs to God and He gives it to whoever He will.

“We will try the best we can, but we political leaders must the country forward. We do not under intense pressure as if we don’t want this democracy or this election will not succeed.’ After the IPAC’s reaction to his address, Prof. Yakubu presented the soft copy of the voters register to representatives of the 18 political parties in the country. Some of the political party leaders at Wednesday’s meeting include Otunba Iyiola Omisore of the All Progressives Party (APC), Umar Bature of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Dan Nwanyanwu of Zenith Labour Party, Prof MA Alkali of People’s Redemption Party (PRP).

Now, the ball is in the political parties’ court, to study the voters register and point out aspects of it that may not be correct. It was obvious that most of the parties’ representatives left the venue of the meeting having confidence in the leadership to deliver a free, fair and credible election. The Commission has also boosted its credibility by keeping to its Timetable leading to the 2023 general elections in a transparent manner.