Inmates Voting Right: INEC says legal, administrative impediments exist

Despite Court judgements granting inmates of correctional facilities right to vote during elections in the country, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has maintained that there are still legal and administrative disorders, hindering implementations of the judgements.

Recall that Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, had on December 16, 2014, granted relief, sought by five inmates on awaiting trial seeking the right of inmates in the nation’s correctional facilities, to vote in elections.

The judgment was upheld by the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal on December 7, 2018.

The judgments were based on the combined provisions of Article 25 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, and Section 25 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, on citizenship.

However, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said the same judges ruled that the right to vote is only ‘a choice to be exercised voluntarily by a citizen and not a duty to be imposed by force.’

Prof Yakubu, while recieving the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche, on a courtesy visit in his office on Monday, admitted that in many parts of the world, including some African countries like Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, inmates exercised the right to vote.

Also, the INEC Chairman had several discussions with the Correctional Service, after the judgments, on how inmates who wish to register and vote in elections could do so.

He said: “We are aware that the right to vote is a human right which cannot be taken away from a citizen on account of time, being served in a correctional facility.

“We set up a joint technical committee to review all issues, involved and advised on way forward, admitting that the Correctional Service provided INEC data on the locations and types of Federal Correctional facilities nationwide, as well as statistics on the various categories of inmates, majority of whom are on remand, awaiting trial and who may actually be registered voters.

“We also brought to your attention concerns about access to your facilities for observers and the media.

“Political parties also want to know if they will be allowed to campaign in the correctional facilities and appoint polling agents on election day,” he stated.

Prof. Yakubu further noted that Section 12(1)[e] of the Electoral Act 2022 regarding voter registration, which is a precondition for voting in elections, restricts the exercise to a Nigerian citizen who “is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or regulations in force in Nigeria”.

This, he regretted, has been subjected to various interpretations “as to whether this provision relates to inmates on death row, those serving life sentences or those convicted for treason.”

Prof Yakubu advised that the ongoing electoral reform provides an opportunity for a clear legal provision that will specifically cover citizens serving time in the nation’s correctional facilities.

He, however, promised to engage with the National Assembly for a clear legal provision on inmate voting, adding; “we can address specific issues that may arise in the course of implementation, as we believe that, working together with you and the stakeholders, can address these, and many more concerns.”