The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to resume continuous voter registration (CVR) until 90 days before the 2023 general elections.
NAN reports that Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment on Tuesday, also directed INEC to ensure that eligible Nigerians are not deprived of the opportunity to have the voter’s card for the forthcoming poll.
Justice Ekwo held that it was the constitutional responsibility of the electoral umpire to make adequate provisions for the exercise following the Nigerian laws.
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“The case of the plaintiffs succeeds on merit,” the judge declared.
Anajat Salmat and three others had sued INEC as the sole defendant in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1343/2022.
In the originating summons filed before the court, the plaintiffs argued that INEC could not stop the CVR contrary to the stipulated provisions of the constitution.
They urged the court to order the electoral umpire to resume the exercise in accordance with the law of the country.
INEC said in July that there would be no further extension so as to enable the Commission to carry out other functions ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The INEC National Commissioner in charge of publicity and voter education and the supervising National Commissioner for Anambra, Abia and Benue states, Chief Festus Okoye, said then at the Anambra State headquarters of INEC, that there was no way the exercise would not come to an end as the Commission is also involved in other activities ahead of the general elections.
“You are fully aware that 30th of June, 2022 was the terminal date for the CVR, but the commission extended the date to 31st July 2023, a period of one month.
“The CVR cannot go on ad infinitum. It has to be terminated at a certain point in time and so, the commission has decided to terminate it on the 31st of July.
“This is to enable us have the time to clean up the double and multiple registrations. We have to do this before the 2023 elections so as to have a clean voters register.
“The Electoral Act 2022 mandates INEC to display the voters register in the 744 local government areas of the country and in the 8809 registration areas for claims and objections. Thereafter, we have to print the voters’ cards of all the registrants and get them to come and collect their PVCs.
“The voters’ registration is not the only function the commission performs. It is also involved in the procurement of items in readiness for the 2023 elections.
“If the commission continues with the CVR, it will do a lot of damage to our other activities and we cannot afford to do that,” he said.
The electoral Act stipulated that the registration exercise ends 90 days to the elections. Ending the exercise in July means that INEC has broken the law and thereby disfranchised millions of eligible voters.
There were about seven million people who were yet to complete their registration by the time INEC ended the exercise in addition to millions of others who turn 18 between July and December 2022, prompting the lawsuit to compel the Commission to continue the exercise in accordance with the law.
But INEC has said that logistically, it is not prepared to extend the voters registration exercise beyond August 2022. Therefore, it is not clear if the electoral umpire is capable of obeying the court’s order.