The Independent National Electoral Commission has registered 113,255 new voters in Kogi State in its continuous registration exercise.

Prof. James Apam, Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner, made the disclosure on Wednesday while briefing newsmen and members of the Civil Society Organisations in Lokoja on activities of the Commission in the state.

“As it stands today, the total number of registered voters in Kogi is 1,759,605.

“Figuratively, the additional 113,255 voters, is made up of 50,854 males and 62,401 females.

“This feat became a reality after we successfully carried out Expansion of Voters Access Exercise in March 2021.

“This we did by converting the previous voting points to full-fledged Polling Units and removed them to places that were underserved, which provided a greater and better access to voters in the State,” Apam explained.

The REC said Kogi now had a total of 3,508 Polling Units from the previous 2,548 after converting some polling points to polling units.

He encouraged those who are already registered and are prospective voters to either transfer their voting points to some of those units or register there, depending on how close they were to them.

Apam further explained that the registration process which started in June 2021 with on-line pre-registration and eventual biometric capturing was still on going.

He, however, warned that the public should know that INEC had nothing to do with what was being done at internet cafes as INEC does not collect money for the registration of voters.

“Our involvement with voters only begins when they approach us with their printed slips at our registration centres at the Local Government and state headquarters.

“The display of the Voters Register for claims and objections will last from March 26 to April 1, while the entire exercise is expected to end on June 30,” he disclosed.

The media briefing was solely to inform the media and Civil Society Organisations of the activities of the commission.

It was also to clear doubts and misconceptions on the activities of INEC as well as preparations for the forthcoming elections.

-NAN