Suspicion of underage voters: Court gives INEC 90 days to hand over prosecution officials

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to punish within 90 days its officials involved in registering minors during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise at polling stations across the country. ordered to be identified.

In his judgment, Justice Obiola Egwatu directed that the culprits be identified and handed over to appropriate law enforcement agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.

Justice Egwatu also issued a compulsory order, ordering INEC to copy the names of all minor voters in each voting unit of the federation published on its website to the national voter register, as identified and compiled by the petitioner. I was forced to delete it immediately.
“Exhibit A” attached to the affidavit supporting the original subpoena.

The judge also issued a mandatory order directing the commission to provide plaintiffs with a clean copy of the National Voter Register (CTC) of every person eligible to vote in Nigeria within 90 days. I forced it.

Alternatively, he ordered the election tribunal to publish on its website a compiled national voter registry of everyone eligible to vote in the country within 90 days of the date of the ruling.

He also answered in the affirmative the six questions posed by the plaintiff. News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has learned that the petitioner, Pastor Mike Agbon, in the first summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023, filed in Game 17 through his lawyer, Desmond Yama, indicted INEC was the sole defendant in the lawsuit. .

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs raised six questions, including “whether the defendants have a constitutional and legal obligation to conduct reliable CVR in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“Whether the defendants are bound by the Constitution and its statutes, the Elections Act 2022, and whether they are required to act in strict compliance with the provisions of the Constitution and its statutes;

“Whether it is unlawful for the defendant to register minors, i.e. infants and young children, during the CVR, pursuant to section 23 of the Elections Act 2022.

“By virtue of the defendant's admission that the voter list contains a significant number of minor, illegal, and illegible voters, the defendant has confirmed that the voter list contains a significant number of minor, illegal, and illegible voters. whether it would be immune from any sanctions within the scope of the Registration Act; 2022 Elections Act, etc.;

Agbon therefore “forces the defendants to identify and arrest the officials involved in the registration of minors in each polling unit across the federation and immediately surrender them within one month for investigation and prosecution; He asked for a “compulsory order”. by appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

The plaintiffs argued that over the years, and particularly since the country returned to democratic governance in May 1999, the unfortunate problem of lack of credibility in the electoral process has recurred and greatly plagued the political space. .

He said INEC maintains and updates the voter list across the country in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

Mr. Agbon said that ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Electoral Tribunal conducted CVR across the country and displayed the national voter register on its website from November 12, 2022 to November 25, 2022. Ta.

He claimed that a review of the National Voter Register found that the Commission was registering underage voters, contrary to the provisions of the Elections Act (supra), which clearly define eligibility for registration.

The complainant edited a copy from the INEC website for the registration of minors and marked it as “Exhibit A” to support his claim.

He told the court that on November 23, 2022, at the National Stakeholders Forum on Elections organized by the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR), INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, based on his observations, told Nigerians: He assured that. The committee will dutifully organize the register before the election.

Agbon said he formally requested the commission through his lawyer to submit a list and names of minor and ineligible voters, but the commission categorically refused and ignored the request. .

However, despite court proceedings and notice of hearing being served on the matter, INEC did not appear in court or raise any defense.

The judgment was handed down on November 28, but in a copy witnessed by NAN on Monday, Justice Egwatu said that the conditions for eligibility to be registered as a voter are Articles 77(2) and 117(2) of the Constitution. ). Article 12 of the Election Law.

He said the commonality between these sections is that voters must be Nigerian citizens, residing in Nigeria, and above the age of 18.

“As I found earlier in this judgment, the defendant's registered voters in Exhibit 'A' are minors, i.e., have not reached the age of 18.

“This means that the defendant registration and renewal officials failed in their duty to register voters in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Elections Act,” he said.

Citing the provisions of Section 120(1) of the Elections Act 2022, he said that any officer who acts in violation of his official duties commits a crime and, if convicted, is liable to a fine of up to 500,000 Naira or imprisonment. He said he would be punished. Term of 12 months or both.

Source: guardian.ng