Again, Court adjourns suit challenging NIN registration amid COVID-19 pandemic

A Federal High Court, Lagos on Monday, February 15, adjourned until February 22, a suit challenging the linkage of the National Identification Number (NIN) with Mobile lines amid the COVID- 19 pandemic.

The suit which was earlier fixed for hearing on Monday, could not proceed as the court did not sit.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that a rights activist Mr Malcolm Omirhobo sued the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) alongside others over the instruction on citizens to link their NIN within a stipulated time frame.

Joined as defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy; Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC); the DG NIMC, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

Other defendants are MTN Nigeria Communications Plc; GLOBACOM Ltd; Airtel Networks Ltd (Airtel Nigeria) and the Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Ltd, EMTS 9 Mobile.

READ ALSO: NIN enrollment: FG orders closure of NIMC headquarters over COVID-19

The applicant who is suing for himself and on behalf of the Nigerian public had brought his suit under the provisions of the fundamental rights enforcement rules enshrined in the 1999 constitution.

At the last adjourned date on Feb. 1, the plaintiff had told the court that in the midst of the prevailing Covid 19 pandemic it was too risky to proceed with the process, adding that further steps should be stopped, pending the determination of the suit.

As a result, Justice Mohammed Liman had ordered that all parties to the suit be served with the court processes while he fixed Feb. 15, to hear both the motion for an interlocutory injunction as well as the substantive suit.

Meanwhile, on Monday, a new date Feb. 22, was fixed for the suit as the court did not sit.

The plaintiff wants the court to declare that Nigerians are entitled to the fundamental right to life, the dignity of the human person, the right to private and family life, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and the right to moveable property.

The lawyer is asking the court to declare that the respondents’ coercion of the applicant and Nigerians without themselves first complying with the COVID-19 guidelines is a violation of the fundamental right to life of Nigerians.

According to him, the threat by the respondents to disconnect the telephone lines of Nigerians, who fail to link their NIN to their SIM cards within a timeline is a violation of the fundamental right to life of the applicant and Nigerians.

He argued that the directive led millions of Nigerians besieging the various NIMC offices nationwide in breach of COVID-19 protocols, while trying to comply with the said directives and in the process exposed themselves to the likelihood of contracting Coronavirus.

Omirhobo, therefore, prayed the court to declare such decisions illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.

He said that the directive to make the presentation of NIN a condition-precedent for the retrieval of lost and/or damaged telephone lines is a violation of the fundamental right of Nigerians and therefore illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional.

He also implored the court to compel the respondents to resume the sale of new SIM cards, replace lost or damaged sim cards to Nigerians as well as issue a public apology to the applicant and the public.

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