ELECTORAL activities are underway in Anambra State as officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) commenced preparations ahead of the 8:00 a.m. accreditation and voting exercise.
According to INEC’s deployment plan, ad-hoc staff are expected to arrive at their Registration Area Centres (RACs) a day before the election and move to their polling units before dawn for timely setup.
This includes arranging voting cubicles, configuring the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices, and displaying voter registers. The commission had assured that both sensitive and non-sensitive materials were distributed across all 21 local government areas on schedule.
As of 7:18 a.m., presiding officers and assistant presiding officers, mostly National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, alongside police officers, were sighted at the RAC Centre in Akwudo Central School, Nnewi North Local Government Area.
The RAC, which serves three wards, Otolo I, II, and III had corps members already moving to their assigned polling units.
By 7:22 a.m., electoral officials were seen setting up polling booths at Polling Units 027 and 028 within Ward 1, Akwudo Central School, Nnewi North, in readiness for the commencement of accreditation.
Similarly, at Okpo Village Hall, Ekwulobia, in Aguata Local Government Area, INEC ad-hoc staff were setting up by 7:40 a.m. across Polling Units 029, 030, and 031 under Ekwulobia Ward 1, preparing materials and checking devices before the official start of voting.
At First Hall Secondary School, Umuchima Village, also in Ekwulobia, voters began arriving early, searching for their names on the voter register and waiting for accreditation to begin at Polling Unit 018 by 7:57 a.m.
The ICIR reports that 2025 Anambra governorship election features 2,802,790 registered voters, out of which 1,790,982 have collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). The INEC deployed over 7,000 BVAS devices across 5,718 polling units in 326 political wards spread across 21 LGAs.
Sixteen candidates are contesting the election, including the incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
The election, according to INEC data, is being monitored by 121 domestic and international observers.
Additionally, 76 media organisations were accredited for its coverage, while over 50,000 security personnel were deployed to maintain order and ensure a peaceful voting process.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M