INEC, NCS Parleys on Inmate Voting

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) have begun discussions to address possible encumbrances to the participation of inmates in the electoral process.

Both organisations agreed that it was high time inmates were granted voting rights in compliance with an existing High Court Judgment in Benin which ruled in favour of inmate voting.

The agreement to work towards actualizing inmates voting came when the Comptroller General (CG) of the NCS, Haliru Nababa, represented by the Deputy Comptroller General in charge of Operations, Daniel Odaro, led a team on a courtesy visit to INEC Chairman and his team at the INEC Headquarters, Abuja.

INEC chairman Prof. Yakubu affirmed the commission was committed to inclusivity, including the rights of inmates to vote during the elections.

He pointed out that inmates’ voting rights have been recognized by Kenya and South Africa in the African continent, and Nigeria was ready to tow a similar path.

Prof Yakubu said, “We need to discuss the practicalities of how this can be achieved in Nigeria”.

“Let me start with the Legal framework. Section 12, sub-section 1 of the Electoral Act 2022 lists five qualifications for registration as a voter in Nigeria, because you have to register as a voter before the right to exercise that right is conferred. That section of the Electoral Act has at least 5 qualifications”.

He continued: “Number one, the prospective registrant must be a Nigerian citizen. Number two, he or she must be 18 years of age, at least. Number three, he or she must originate, reside or work in the local government or be covered by the registration center or the point of registration.

“Number four, those citizens of Nigeria must present himself or herself to the registration officer for registration and support. And number five, which is really critical to our discussion today, is that he or she must not be subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule, or regulation imposed in Nigeria”.

Prof. Yakubu added that “this is one area that we need to discuss so that we know the categories of inmates that will exercise the right to vote and I’m happy that you came with your Director, Legal. We therefore need to work things out carefully. We want transparency in the process, because everything that we do in the commission, particularly when it comes to the rights of citizens to vote, must be done transparently”.

INEC Chairman also spoke about location of polling unit for inmates, possibility of political party campaigns in the correctional facilities, voter education for inmates, voter registration for inmates, and observers’ access to correctional facilities to monitor elections if polling units have to be situated in the facilities”.

Prof. Yakubu harped on the need to address the issues militating against inmate voting as soon as possible, as he pointed out that the 2023 general election was in 7 months away.

He said “the sooner we’re able to address these issues, the better for the process. But remember, we have only a little over seven months to the next general election.

“But the next general election is not going to be the last election conducted by Nigeria. So even if we don’t meet all these critical thresholds, or 2023, we’ll continue with a discussion to see what happens beyond 2023”.

Earlier, the representative of the CG of NCS, Haliru Nababa, Mr. Daniel Odaro, explained that the purpose of their visit was to discuss the issue of the inmates’ voting rights.

INEC Assures of Credible Elections Come 2023

Fresh from the successful conduct of two ends of tenure elections in Ekiti and Osun states, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has once again assured that the conduct of the 2023 general election will be taken a notch higher and will be the best ever in the history of the country.

Prof. Yakubu gave the assurance when he received a delegation from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), led by the Secretary of State of the State of Ohio, in the United States of America, Frank LaRose, at the Commission’s Headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday, 19th July, 2023.

While acknowledging the kind words and commendations for the smooth conduct of the Osun governorship election conducted last Saturday, the INEC Chairman noted that there was more work to be done, and maintained that the Commission will not rest on its oars in order to deliver its promise of conducting the best election ever.

According to him; “there is still a lot of work to do and we assure you that we will continue to work not only hard but even harder to deliver the 2023 general election”.

“I want to assure you that we promised Nigerians that Ekiti was going to be good and Ekiti was a good election. We promised that Osun was going to be better, Osun was a better election. We are promising that the 2023 general election will be our best election ever and we are committed to delivering best election ever”, Prof. Yakubu said.

Earlier in his remarks, the Secretary of State for the State of Ohio and leader of the delegation, Mr LaRose, commended the Commission for the steady and visible improvement in the electoral process in Nigeria.

He explained that as observers in the just concluded Osun governorship election, they witnessed firsthand, the effort that INEC has put in to continually deliver safe elections to the people of Nigeria, even though he agreed with the INEC Chairman that there was room for improvement.

In his words; “first I want to commend you all for the ongoing work that you do to continue to improve. Of course we always know there is room to get better, but we need to first recognise the continuous improvement that INEC has made to deliver safe elections to the people of Nigeria, and that is something that we were able to see firsthand”.

“We took the opportunity to visit Osun because that was only the second time an election has been conducted under the new electoral law. We met with the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Osun state, and we observed dozens, many different polling locations on Election Day.”

Explaining the purpose of their visit to the Commission, Mr. LaRose said “I lead a delegation of high level election experts from around the region, as well as from the United States, who share with you the common believe that the people of Nigeria deserve to continue to have free, fair, and accessible elections, so we are working to prepare for the presidential election in 2023”.