2023: Court drops lawsuit forcing INEC to allow voting without PVCs

Judge Binta Nyako of the Federal Supreme Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday has filed a lawsuit to force the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow the use of temporary voter cards or voter identification numbers (VIN) during the 2023 general election. elections.

The Incorporated Trustees of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Mr. Emmanuel Chukwuka and Mr. Bruno Okeahialam, had taken the committee to court to obtain an order to allow votes without the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). to stand.

Judge Nyako, in her verdict on the lawsuit, ruled that the plaintiffs’ lawsuit was in its infancy, adding BB that section 47(2) of the electoral law provides for the use of PVC in the upcoming general election.

INEC, she said, has called on people who had registered to come and collect their PVCs to enable them to participate in the elections.

“Unless you give me a list of uncollected PVCs and a list of those who registered but did not receive their PVCs, I can make a decision, otherwise it will remain a predicament,” the judge said.

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She claimed the lawsuit amounted to an academic exercise as INEC had extended the date for registered voters to collect their PVCs and the exercise was still ongoing.

Justice Nyako also believed that the electoral law stipulates that the commission can deploy any technological device for holding the election and that INEC still had time to deploy the technological device to ensure that all eligible voters could vote.

However, she said she would not dismiss the lawsuit, but will only drop it to allow the plaintiffs to resubmit if they have new and sufficient evidence.

“If INEC is done handing out the PVCs they have and you still have these 29 million voters that you represent who haven’t picked up theirs, bring the lawsuit back,” the judge said.

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit last December, claiming that if the court did not intervene, some 29 million registered voters would be disenfranchised in the 2023 general election.

The plaintiffs asked the court in their lawsuit to determine whether INEC, as a result of its own construction, could deprive or deprive Nigerians of the right or ability to vote in the upcoming general election.

In the lawsuit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2022, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare that after being properly registered, they and the people they represent should be able to vote.

Mr. Max Uzoaka pleaded on behalf of the plaintiffs and prayed for the court to declare that all persons registered as voters with INEC and whose names appear on the electoral register should not be denied the right to vote in the elections.

“After being registered and recorded in the INEC Voter Register and Electronic Database of Registered Voters, we and the individuals we represent in the lawsuit will be entitled to vote in the February and March general elections.”

The lawyer said that INEC’s concept of “no PVC, no vote” would deprive eligible voters whose PVCs were burned during the attacks on INEC’s offices from voting in the elections.

He argued that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was designed to read the details of registered voters without PVCs, as the Voter Identification Number (VIN) was recorded in the INEC database.

However, Mr. Abdulaziz Sani, (SAN), counsel for INEC, pleaded with the court to deny jurisdiction in this case on the grounds that the commission had extended the deadline for collecting PVCs.

He also told the court that the plaintiff’s claim that the last six digits of the VIN could be captured by BVAS was a mysterious statement saying he heard it for the first time.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Ozoaka said the verdict did not accurately reflect the justice of the case as the judge failed to address the most important issue.

He said he would contact his client to find out what the next step would be.