Gov election: Court orders INEC to allow use of temporary voter cards
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to allow the use of Temporary Voter Cards in the forthcoming governorship and state houses of assembly elections which is to take place on the 18th of March, 2023.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu gave the order on Thursday while ruling on a suit filed on February 8 by two aggrieved Nigerians.
They were seeking the use of the Temporary Voter Card, TVC in the general elections in the absence of the Permanent Voter Cards.
The plaintiffs, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell, challenged the position of INEC and asked the court to determine “whether a person whose name appears in the electronic format in INEC’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 can be said to be entitled to be accredited to vote with his/her TVC in the general election to be conducted by the defendant.”
They also requested the court to determine whether such a person can, as a consequence of INEC’s liabilities… omission be disenfranchised of the right and entitlement to vote in the 2023 general election.
Consequently, they prayed for the following reliefs should the questions be answered in their favour.
They asked for “a declaration that the plaintiff, having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in its central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format of INEC’s maintained register of voters, the plaintiffs are entitled to vote using their TVC in the 2023 General Elections”.
In his ruling, Justice Egwuatu held that there was no portion of the law, both the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act that states that it is only PVCs that could be used, but that the law under Section 47 provided for a voter’s card.
He stated that the order was made on the grounds that the plaintiffs were duly registered and captured in INEC’s database.
“An order is made compelling the defendant to allow the plaintiffs to vote using their Temporary Voter Cards issued by the defendant, the plaintiffs having been duly captured in the National Register of Voters database”, he ruled.
The judge further held that the plaintiffs are entitled to vote using their TVC in the 2023 general election “having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in INEC’s central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format”.
Justice Egwuatu , however, did not grant prayer 3 which was a request to allow every eligible voter with a TVC to vote, saying ”the suit was not filed in a representative capacity”.
Writing by Annabel Nwachukwu