Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has expressed concern over low voter turnout during elections, following a growing pattern of cheating and manipulation allegedly embedded in the system.

However, Borno State has recorded the highest number of voter online pre-registrations nationwide as of Week Nine, according to newly released data from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday.

To encourage voter turnout, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State announced a N20 million reward for the local council with the highest record of registered voters in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration (CVR).

Otti lamented that there’s a continuous increase in voter apathy, despite huge funds used in political mobilization due to disenchantment, especially after the 2023 general elections.

He made the call yesterday in Port Harcourt during the opening ceremony of the first international conference on ‘Advancing politics and governance for sustainable development’, organized by the Centre for Politics of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“You find out that there is a continued decline in voters’ turnout in successive elections, despite the rising cost of political mobilization,” he said.

The Abia governor, therefore, called on African leaders to focus more on advancing politics and governance across the continent.

The conference, with the theme: ‘Politics, Resource Governance and Sustainable Development in Africa’ was attended by participants from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States (U.S.), Canada and Australia.

Represented by former Senate Minority Chief Whip, Darlington Nwokocha, the governor said development in simple language “is the fair distribution of resources” among the people.

Chairman of the conference, Tonye Princewill, stated that it was becoming increasingly clear that sustainable development could not be achieved solely through economic growth.

In the CVR, out of 8,003,196 Nigerians who completed the pre-registration process, Borno accounted for 826,130 entries, the highest figure recorded across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Osun State follows with 646,580 pre-registrations, while Lagos is next with 604,819. Kebbi registered 581,135, slightly ahead of Kaduna, which recorded 510,490. Ogun is close behind with 510,062, and Kano comes next with 421,941. Kogi also posted high numbers, registering 361,233, while Zamfara and Yobe followed with 304,065 and 292,714, respectively.

Jigawa added 284,384 pre-registrations, with the FCT recording 228,264. Oyo followed closely with 224,713. Katsina registered 205,933, while Sokoto and Nasarawa posted 209,392 and 183,519, respectively.

Bauchi recorded 181,671, ahead of Delta, which registered 160,188. Kwara contributed 142,084, followed by Cross River with 119,773 and Ekiti with 114,244.

Imo recorded 109,245, Niger 107,153 and Gombe 103,150. Plateau followed with 93,963, Rivers and Adamawa registered 82,840 and 80,556, respectively. Taraba posted 65,684, Akwa Ibom 60,638, Benue 53,747, and Bayelsa 52,957.

At the lower rung, Enugu registered 25,541 voters, Ondo 17,618, Ebonyi 13,979, Edo 11,570 and Abia, 11,221, the lowest figure in the country.

Also, INEC announced that 1,710,450 voters completed their CVR nationwide as of week eight, combining both online pre-registration (956,566) and physical registration (753,884).

Probably dissatisfied with the Lagos figure, the state APC Chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, at the 2025 State APC Stakeholders Forum, yesterday in Lagos, said: “We are placing N1 million for the polling unit with the highest registrations in the ongoing INEC’s CVR, while N5 million will be given to the ward that records the highest.

“The local council recording the highest number will be given N20 million. So, the competition has started,” Ojelabi said.

The party chairman urged party leaders at various levels to mobilize people in all corners of the state to participate in the exercise. (The Guardian)