Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to respond to a fresh suit seeking to compel it to allow registered voters that were unable to collect their Permanent Voters Card, PVC, before the expiration of the deadline, to participate in the forthcoming general elections.
The suit was brought before the court by two aggrieved registered voters, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell, who lamented that despite their effort and repeated visits to the INEC office, they were unable to obtain their PVCs before the February 6 deadline.
The plaintiffs are praying the court intervene by directing the electoral body to permit eligible electorates with the Temporary Voters Card, to vote in the elections.
INEC was cited as the sole defendant in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/180/2023.
In an affidavit of urgency they filed before the court, the duo, maintained that the suit, if not quickly heard and decided, “the plaintiffs and numerous voters will be disenfranchised by the actions or inactions of the defendant”.
Related Posts
Specifically, the plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Mr. Opatola Victor, are praying the court to among other things, determine; “Whether by the true construction and interpretation of section 10(2) and 12(1) of Electoral Act 2022 and section 77(2) and 132(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), an eligible voter upon fulfilling all necessary requirements provided therein, is registered and whose name appears In the electronic format of the defendant’s central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format of the Register of Voters and has assigned a Voter’s Identification Number (VIN), can be said to be entitled to a voter’s card for the purpose of voting In the forthcoming 2023 General Elections.
“Whether by the true construction and interpretation of section 10(2), 12(1) and 47 of the Electoral Act 2022; Section 77(2) and 132(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and bearing in mind that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine introduced by the defendant only needs the thumbprint and/or facial recognition to accredit a voter, a person whose name appears in the electronic format in the defendant’s central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format of the Register of Voters and has been assigned a Voter’s Identification Number (VIN), can be said to be entitled to be accredited to vote with his/her Temporary Voter’s Card, in the forthcoming General Election to be conducted by the defendant”.
As well as, “Whether by the true construction and interpretation of section 10(2), 12(1) and 47 of the Electoral Act 2022; Section 77(2) and 132(5) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), the plaintiffs, bearing in mind that the BVAS Machine (Bimodal Voters Accreditation System) introduced by the defendant only needs the thumbprint and/or facial recognition to accredit a person whose name appears in its central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format and has been assigned a Voter’s Identification Number (VIN); and as a consequence of the defendant’s inabilities, actions and omission, be disenfranchised of the right and entitlement to vote in the forthcoming 2023 General”.
Upon determination of the questions, they urged the court to declare that having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having been captured in INEC’s central database, they are entitled to vote, using the temporary voter’s card.
They further applied for an order compelling the defendant to allow them to vote with the temporary voter’s card.
Meanwhile, following the affidavit of urgency attached to the suit, Justice Obiora Egwuatu ordered service of all the processes on INEC to enable it to appear on Tuesday to respond to the reliefs the plaintiffs are seeking from the court.
Comments are closed.