Court orders INEC to probe, arrest official involved in underaged voters’ registration

The Independent National Electoral Commission has been directed by the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, to identify any personnel who were part of the continuous voter registration drive across the nation that includes the registration of underage persons.

This ruling was in the wake of a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023 filed by one Rev Mike Agbon against INEC.

The court granted INEC ninety days to identify and turn over the responsible officials to law enforcement.

According to Justice Obiora Egwuatu, the officers violated the Electoral Act, which constituted a criminal crime.

“Where there is a failure to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act by any officer appointed for the purpose of the Act, such an officer has committed an of fence,” the judge held.

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The judge issued “a mandatory order of this honourable court compelling and directing the defendant to forthwith, within a period of one month or such other period which shall not exceed 90 days from the date of this judgment, to identify, produce and hand over its officials that were involved in the registration of the underage in each Polling Unit across the federation for investigation and prosecution by the appropriate law enforcement agency.”

In the judgment, the judge said a former spokesman for INEC, Festus Okoye, had admitted to the infractions in Exhibits B1 and B2.

Justice Egwuatu said, “These infractions were admitted by the defendant, through her officer, Festus Okoye Esq., in exhibits BI and B2 as earlier reproduced in this judgment.

“At the risk of being repetitive, Festus Okoye Esq. has stated in the said exhibit that in addition, the commission could not rule out infractions by its registration officials in allowing these ineligible persons into the register in the first place.

“He promised that each confirmed case of infraction will be thoroughly investigated and culpable officials will be disciplined.

“It was also admitted by the defendant in Exhibit B1 that several double, multiple, and ineligible registrants have also been detected and invalidated. These include entries that fail to meet the commission’s business rules. The commission takes this responsibility seriously because a credible register is at the heart of electoral integrity.”

The judge further mandated that INEC immediately remove all of the names of the minor voters from every polling place in the federation that were listed on her website, as determined and gathered by the plaintiff, from its national voter registration.

In addition, he gave the commission ninety days to provide the plaintiff with a certified true copy of the national voters’ register, which has been updated to include all Nigerian citizens who are entitled to vote.

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