Benue has 3,057,225 registered voters, and 592 candidates are contesting 52 governorship and legislative seats; 18 parties are contesting the presidential race, Resident Electoral Commissioner Aminu Idris said at an INEC meeting, BusinessDay reported.
Idris gave the figures Oct. 28 in Makurdi at a meeting of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with political parties, civil society groups and journalists. He said 18 parties are contesting the presidential seat and 12 are contesting the governorship. Forty candidates are seeking three Senate seats, 118 are running for 11 House of Representatives seats and 422 are contesting 37 State House of Assembly positions. Nationally, Idris said, 18 of Nigeria’s 22 registered parties submitted presidential nominations, while 21 fielded candidates for legislative and governorship races.
INEC had begun delivering non-sensitive election materials to state and area council offices and finished checking 5,381 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices, Idris said. Of those, 5,277 were functional and ready for deployment; the commission notified its headquarters to arrange replacements for faulty units.
A voter-register display ran across Benue’s 23 local government areas from Oct. 9-15, 2026. INEC received 947 claims and 105 objections during the display, Idris said. Voters collected 58,581 permanent voter cards over the same period: 9,139 old cards, 28,854 issued through new registrations, 12,707 transferred cards and 7,881 replacements. Benue also received 101,695 Phase One cards from INEC headquarters, including 54,724 for new registrations and 46,971 for transfers, he said.
Idris said court rulings reinstated 27 constituencies in four states. Five were in Benue, raising its assembly constituency total from 32 to 37. Those seats were Ukum II (Afia), Konshisha (Shange-Tiev), Gboko III (Central), Makurdi III (South-East) and Nyamatsor.
EconoTimes previously reported on efforts to mobilize youth voters ahead of Nigeria’s 2027 election. Idris urged parties to train agents for polling units and collation centers. He said presidential and National Assembly voting is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2027, followed by governorship and state assembly elections Feb. 6.
