Court orders INEC to allow two Nigerians vote without PVCs

A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow two Nigerians to use their temporary voter cards (TVCs) to vote in the March 18 governorship and state houses of assembly elections.

The plaintiffs, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/180/2023 and filed on February 8, challenged INEC on the position that only a permanent voter card (PVC) can be used in an election.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Obiora Egwuatu, presiding judge, said the applicants should be allowed to use their TVCs in the absence of the PVCs.

 “An order is made compelling the defendant (INEC) to allow the plaintiffs to vote using their temporary voter cards issued by the defendant, the plaintiffs having been duly captured in the national register of voter’s database,” the judge held.

“This court makes a declaration that the plaintiffs, having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in the defendant’s (INEC’s) central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format of the defendant’s maintained register of voters, the plaintiffs are entitled to vote using their Temporary Voter Cards in the  forthcoming 2023 general election.” 

The court determined that neither the 1999 constitution nor the electoral act contained any language stipulating that only PVCs could be used for voting and that instead, Section 47 of the statute allowed for the use of a voter’s card.

The judge, however, refused to grant the third relief by the plaintiffs that sought to allow every eligible voter with a TVC to vote in the elections.

Judge said the plaintiffs failed to file the suit on behalf of all Nigerians.

“This suit having not been brought in a representative capacity, I find myself unable to grant any relief pursuant to prayer three of the plaintiffs’ application.”

The electoral commission has maintained that no one would be allowed to vote without a PVC.

Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, in December 2022, insisted that no voter would be allowed to vote without a PVC, adding that eligible voters would provide their PVCs at voting points before they would be allowed to vote, in line with the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.

However, Section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that ‘a person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a Presiding Officer for accreditation at the Polling Unit in the constituency in which his name is registered’.