VENTURES AFRICA – With Nigeria’s eagerly anticipated and hotly contested elections finally underway, we take a review of the numbers that matter in today’s make or break presidential and federal parliamentary polls.
70 million
The total number of registered Nigerian voters is 70,383,427. This is the largest voting population in Africa, larger than the combined population all of Nigeria’s immediate neighbours– Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Benin Republic.The reason Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy.
56 million
The number of Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) collected. This represents 81 percent of the total 70 million electorates registered by INEC, the country’s electoral body. Nigerians have reportedly turned out en masse to exercise their rights.
14
There are fourteen contestants in today’s Presidential election. Among them are the Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and his main rival Muhammadu Buhari, both of whom are reportedly neck-in-neck in opinion polls. The sole female candidate, Oluremi Sonaiya, is the dark horse of the race. She has in recent weeks risen as an anti-establishment candidate and alternative for those worried about the antecedents of the two major candidates.
2957
Although today’s election has been dominated by the presidential polls, there are also not less than 2957 people gunning for the 469 seats of the National Assembly. While 739 of these contestants are jostling for a position in the 109-member Senate, 2218 candidate are seeking to become one of the 360 occupants of the House of Representatives.
120,000
Votes will be cast in 120,000 polling booths. These booths are spread across Nigeria’s 745 local Government Areas.
5
This is Nigeria’s fifth consecutive election. It is the the country’s longest stretch of uninterrupted elections. Beginning with the return of Democracy, national elections were held in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. These polls have produced three different presidents. However, past polls have been dogged by malpractice allegations and violence, although such is yet to be seen today.
