Underage Voters: Court orders INEC to handover officials responsible for prosecution within 90 days

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been directed by a Federal High Court in Abuja to identify the officials participating in the continuous voter registration (CVR) process in polling places across the nation who registered minors. The deadline for doing so is 90 days.

The offenders must also be produced and turned over to the proper law enforcement organisation for an investigation and potential prosecution, according to a ruling by Justice Obiora Egwuatu.

In addition, Justice Egwuatu issued a mandatory order requiring INEC to immediately remove from its national voter registration all names of minor voters from every polling place in the federation that were listed on her website. These names were identified and compiled by the plaintiff and are included in “Exhibit A,” which is attached to the affidavit supporting the original summons.

Read Also: Eight-day blackout expected in Delta communities

The judge also issued an obligatory order, requiring the commission to provide the plaintiff with a certified true copy (CTC) of the updated national voter registration list, which includes every Nigerian citizen who is eligible to vote, within ninety days.

Alternatively, he mandated that the electoral umpire post on its website, within ninety days of the judgement date, the updated national voters’ register listing every individual eligible to vote in the nation.

Additionally, he provided affirmative answers to all six of the plaintiff’s inquiries.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), INEC was sued as the only defendant by the plaintiff, Rev. Mike Agbon, in the originating summons filed on March 17 under the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023 via his attorney, Desmond Yamah.

“Whether the defendant is constitutionally, legally, and duty bound to conduct credible CVR in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” was one of the six questions the plaintiff asked in the claim.Whether the defendant, the Electoral behave, 2022, is required to behave in exact accordance with the requirements of the constitution and its enabling statute.

Whether the defendant’s registration of minors, such as babies and toddlers, during the CVR was prohibited by Section 23 of the Electoral Act of 2022.

“Among other things, does the defendant’s admission that a significant portion of the voters in its voters’ register are underage, illegal, and illegible, absolves the defendant of any legal repercussions for registering underage voters as specified in Sections 12 & 23 of the Electoral Act, 2022?

Consequently, Agbon requested “a mandatory order, compelling and directing the defendant to forthwith within one month to identify, produce, and hand its officials that are involved in the registration of the underaged in each polling unit across the federation over for investigation and prosecution by the appropriate law enforcement agency,” among other such demands.

The plaintiff said that the unfortunate problem of the election processes’ lack of credibility had been a persistent issue that had seriously disrupted the political space for a long time, especially since the nation’s return to democratic rule in May 1999.

He stated that INEC updates and maintains the national voters’ registry in accordance with the terms of the Electoral Act.

According to Agbon, the national register of voters was posted on the electoral umpire’s website between November 12, 2022, and November 25, 2022, and the electoral umpire conducted CVR worldwide before to the general elections of 2023.

He claimed that after looking through the national voter registration database, he saw that the commission had enrolled minors in violation of the Electoral Act (above), which stipulated the requirements for registration in detail.

The plaintiff used compiled copies of the underage registration from the INEC website to support his claims, designating it as “Exhibit A.”

He informed the court that on November 23, 2022, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, gave an assurance to Nigerians at a national stakeholders’ forum on elections hosted by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) that the commission would diligently clean up the register in advance of the elections based on the observations of Nigerians.

Agbon claimed that he had formally requested—through his attorney—that the commission provide him with the names and voter rolls of those who were underage and ineligible, but that the board had fiercely rejected and disregarded his request.

Nevertheless, INEC did not appear in court or submit a defence, even after receiving hearing notices and legal procedures.

Judge Egwuatu delivered the ruling on November 28. Sections 77(2), 117(2), and 12 of the Electoral Act, as well as the Constitution, specify the requirements for voter registration. NAN was able to view the certified accurate copy of the ruling on Monday.

He claims that these sections all have the requirement that the voter be a Nigerian citizen, reside in Nigeria, and be at least eighteen years old.

“The voters enrolled by the defendant in Exhibit ‘A’ are underage, meaning they have not reached the age of eighteen, as I have previously determined in this judgement.

“This means that the defendant’s registration officers and an update officer did not fulfil their obligations to register voters in compliance with the Electoral Act and the Constitution,” he stated.

He cited the terms of Section 120(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, stating that any officer who violated their official duties committed an offence and might face up to a N500,000 fine, a year in jail, or both. (NAN)