COURT ORDER RESTRAINS INEC FROM ENDING VOTER REGISTRATION
Read Time:1 Minute, 33 Second
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will not be able to close voter registration on June 30, 2022, according to the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Following the hearing of an argument on motion exparte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), Honourable Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon (Court 10) gave an order of temporary injunction on Monday.
In a statement released on Monday, SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, revealed the information.
Early this month, SERAP and 185 concerned Nigerians filed a lawsuit against INEC, requesting that the court “declare the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights as unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards.”
SERAP asked the court for “an order restraining INEC, its agents, privies, assigns, or any other person(s) claiming through it from discontinuing the continuous voters’ registration exercise from June 30, 2022 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The hearing on the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction has been rescheduled for June 29, 2022.
The complaint was filed in response to INEC’s decision to extend the deadline for political parties to hold primaries by six days, from June 3 to June 9.
SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether the failure of INEC to extend the deadline for voter registration isn’t a violation of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 [as amended], the Electoral Act, and international standards” in the suit number FHC/L/CS/1034/2022, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos and transferred to Abuja.
“An order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to extend voter registration by at least three months and take effective measures to guarantee that eligible Nigerians are able to register to exercise their right to vote in the 2023 general elections,” the organization said.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0