The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially released the final voter registers for the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states. This announcement was made by Sam Olumekun, the national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, in a statement issued on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the final voter register for Edo State lists a total of 2,629,025 registered voters. Of this number, 1,370,061 (52.11%) are male, and 1,258,964 (47.89%) are female. The data shows that youth aged 18 to 35 years make up 983,133 voters, which represents 37.4% of the total registered voters. Additionally, 914,806 voters are in the middle-aged group of 36 to 49 years, which accounts for 36.8% of the total. These two age groups together represent 72.2% of the registered voters in Edo.
In terms of occupation, students are the largest group among the registered voters, totaling 868,764, which is 33.05% of the electorate. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are the smallest group, numbering 4,199, or 0.16% of the total voters.
The new voter register for Edo State shows a 4.9% increase from the previous figure of 2,501,081 recorded in the 2023 General Elections.
For Ondo State, the final voter register includes 2,053,061 individuals. Of these, 1,034,006 (50.36%) are male, and 1,034,964 (47.89%) are female. The youth demographic, aged 18 to 35, consists of 726,944 voters, representing 35.41% of the total. Middle-aged individuals, aged 36 to 49, numbered 721,982, or 35.17% of the total. Together, these two groups make up 70.57% of the registered voters in Ondo.
Among the registered voters, students also form the largest occupational group, with 694,938, which accounts for 33.85%. The number of persons with disabilities is 1,782, or 0.09% of the total voters.
The Ondo voter register represents a 3.0% increase from the 2023 General Elections, which had a total of 1,191,344 registered voters.
Olumekun noted that the detailed breakdown of the voter registers for each state, including information on local government areas, gender, age, occupation, and disability status, has been uploaded to the INEC website and various social media platforms for public access.
He also mentioned that INEC will soon release a timetable for collecting permanent voter cards in both Edo and Ondo states. This upcoming schedule will provide voters with important information on how and when they can obtain their permanent voter cards ahead of the elections.
