By Editor
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to resume the continuous voter registration (CVR) exercise.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the registration exercise, which the electoral body stopped on July 31, ought to continue until at least 90 days before the general election.
It will be recalled that though INEC initially announced its resolve to end the CVR exercise on June 30, it subsequently extended the deadline, following a suit the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project SERAP, filed alongside 185 others.
However, dissatisfied with the decision of INEC end the exercise in July, an electorate, Anajat Salmat and three others, lodged a fresh suit before the court.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1343/2022, the plaintiffs maintained that INEC lacked the statutory powers to stop the continuous voter registration before the time stipulated by law.
They, therefore, urged the court to declare that the action by INEC was unlawful, arbitrary and in gross violation of rights of electorates in the country.
Delivering judgement in the matter on Tuesday, Justice Ekwo agreed upheld the case of the plaintiffs and ordered INEC not to deprive citizens of the opportunity to have their voter cards for the impending elections.
Justice Ekwo held that under the law, the period provided for the registration of voters, has not elapsed.
He held that the case of the plaintiffs succeeded on its merit.
No comments:
Post a Comment