Appeal court affirms prisoners can vote in Nigeria
As rights of incarcerated people keep on improving around the world, Nigeria has made progress in this regard as an appeal filed by five inmates representing all prisoners in Nigeria at the Court of Appeal, Benin Division has been ruled in favour of the appellants.
Victor Emenuwe, Osagie Iyekekpolor, Modugu Odion, Onome Inaye and Kabiru Abu had approached the Court of Appeal to secure a directive that will mandate the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to include people serving at various prisons across the country in the voter’s register.
The President of the Initiative for Rural Development, Information and Legal Advocacy (IRDILA), Mr Aigbokan who stood as Counsel to the appellants expressed satisfaction on the outcome of the ruling.
“In 2014, the Federal High Court granted our prayers that prisoners can vote but narrowed it to the four applicants in the suit even though it was stated there that those applicants were representing other inmates,” he clarified.
“We went to the Court of Appeal and the court agreed that the judgement represents all inmates in the country. That INEC should with immediate effect collage the names of inmates and allow them to vote in 2019.”
INEC hasn’t yet responded to the directive and have not indicated if there are provisions to cater to an estimated population of 550,000 inmates all over the country.
