By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
Despite court judgements granting inmates of correctional facilities the right to vote in elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said there are still legal and administrative encumbrances hindering the implementation of the judgements.<\/p>\n
Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, had on December 16, 2014, granted the relief sought by five inmates on awaiting trial seeking the right of inmates in the nation\u2019s correctional facilities, to vote in elections.<\/p>\n
The judgment was upheld by the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal on December 7, 2018.<\/p>\n
The judgments were based on the combined provisions of Article 25 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and Section 25 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) on citizenship.<\/p>\n
But INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu noted that the judges ruled that the right to vote is only \u201ca choice to be exercised voluntarily by a citizen and not a duty to be imposed by force of authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof. Yakubu, who spoke on Friday when he received the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, on a courtesy visit, admitted that in many parts of the world, including some African countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, inmates exercised the right to vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware that the right to vote is a human right which cannot be taken away from a citizen on account of time being served in a correctional facility,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
INEC Chairman recalled that the commission had several discussions with the correctional service, after the judgments, on how inmates who wish to register and vote in elections could do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe even set up a joint technical committee to review all the issues involved and advise on the way forward,\u201d he added, and admitted that the correctional service provided INEC data on the locations and types of federal correctional facilities nationwide, as well as statistics on the various categories of inmates, \u201cthe majority of whom are on remand awaiting trial and who may actually be registered voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He, however, expressed concern about access by INEC officials to the correctional facilities for voter registration, creation of polling units and voter education.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also brought to your attention concerns about access to your facilities for observers and the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical parties also want to know if they will be allowed to campaign in the correctional facilities and appoint polling agents on election day,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Prof. Yakubu further noted that Section 12(1)[e] of the Electoral Act 2022 regarding voter registration, which is a precondition for voting in elections, restricts the exercise to a Nigerian citizen who \u201cis not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or regulations in force in Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n
This, he regretted, has been subjected to various interpretations \u201cas to whether this provision relates to inmates on death row, those serving life sentences or those convicted for treason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prof. Yakubu advised that the ongoing electoral reform provides an opportunity for a clear legal provision that will specifically cover citizens serving time in the nation\u2019s correctional facilities.<\/p>\n
He, however, promised to engage with the National Assembly for a clear legal provision on inmate voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThereafter, we can address the specific issues that may arise in the course of implementation. We believe that working together with you and the stakeholders, we can address these concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent Despite court judgements granting inmates of correctional facilities the right to vote in elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said there are still legal and administrative encumbrances hindering the implementation of the judgements. Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, had on December 16, 2014, granted the relief sought by five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2456,1433,3950,80,3951,3364],"class_list":["post-6181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-administrative","tag-correctional","tag-encumbrances","tag-facilities","tag-hindering","tag-regulations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6182,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6181\/revisions\/6182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}