• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Labour Party leads with most PU agents, lags behind in key states

25 February: A deciding moment for Nigeria

Labour Party leads with the most polling unit agents assigned for the February 25 and March 11 elections in Nigeria but the agents are not well distributed, especially in key states.

The increase in the number of agents comes after the African Democratic Congress (ADC) collapsed its structure to support the presidential ambition of Peter Obi, its presidential candidate.

On the official Twitter handle of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Labour Party had 134,874 while ADC had 96,043. As a result, the Obi-Datti campaign movement gets 230,917 agents to monitor activities at polling stations across the country on election days.

Labour Party was followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), who will engage 176,588, 176,223, and 176,200 polling unit agents nationwide, respectively.

However, a breakdown showed that despite that total lead, the party even with its collaboration with the ADC lagged behind in very important states such as Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Oyo, and Rivers State.

Only in Kaduna State has the party been able to mobilise enough manpower to monitor activities at polling stations on election days.

A breakdown of the table available on the INEC Twitter handle showed that we have a total of 27 National Collation Centers, with most of the parties having two except AAC, ADP, BP, NNPP, and SDP, which have one, while ZLP and APGA have none.

Read also: Court stops INEC from engaging MC Oluomo in Lagos election logistics

In these flashpoint states such as Kano, Lagos, Rivers, and Kaduna. APC, PDP, LP/ADC, and NNPP have the following collation agents:

Kano State: The APC has 528 agents, the PDP has 529 agents, the LP/ADC has (29 + 154 = 183) agents, and the NNPP has 532 agents. According to records from the electoral commission, this state has the second-highest voting population in Nigeria. Some reports say that it has more than 5 million registered voters.

Lagos State: APC has 268 agents, PDP has 271 agents, LP/ADC has (199 + 18 = 217) agents, and NNPP has 265 agents. Lagos State has the highest number of registered voters, according to records from the electoral commission. Some reports say that there are more than 7 million registered voters.

Kaduna State: APC has 279 collation agents, PDP has 280 agents, LP/ADC has (261 + 281 = 542) agents, and NNPP has 279 agents. A report from the electoral body says that the state has more than 4.3 million registered voters.

River States, the home state of Governor Nyesom Wike. APC and PDP each have 343 agents, LP and ADC have (79 + 314 = 393) agents, and NNPP has 347 agents. Rivers State has more than 3.5 million registered voters.

Katsina State, which is another state of numerical importance with a registered voter population of more than 3.5 million people, The APC has 396 agents, the PDP has 399 agents, the LP, and ADC have (1 + 3 = 4) agents, and the NNPP has 381 agents.

Oyo State is also another state of numerical importance, with a registered voter population of more than 3.2 million people, according to reports. APC has 385 agents, PDP has 387 agents, LP/ADC has (16 + 23 = 39) agents, and NNPP has 403 agents.