The Federal High Court in Abuja has instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to identify officials involved in the registration of underage voters across Nigeria within 90 days.
The judge, Obiora Egwuatu, also mandated the commission to expunge the names of all underage voters from its national register.
He also asked the commission to provide a certified true copy (CTC) of the cleaned-up register to the plaintiff.
Mike Agbon, a cleric, had sued INEC in the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023 filed on March 17.
The plaintiff claimed in the suit, through his lawyer, Desmond Yamah, that the lack of credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process has caused significant distress in the political space.
According to Agbon, the electoral umpire conducted Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) nationwide prior to the 2023 general election and displayed the national register of voters on its website between November 12, 2022 and November 25, 2022.
He claimed that after reviewing the national voter registration database, he discovered that the commission registered underage voters, in violation of the Electoral Act, which outlined the requirements for registration in detail.
The plaintiff supported his case with compiled copies of the underage registered from the INEC website, which he labelled as “Exhibit A.”
He said:
“As I have found earlier in this judgment, the voters registered by the defendant in Exhibit ‘A’ are underage, that is, they have not attained the age of 18 years”.
“What this translates into is that the registration officers and an update officers of the defendant failed in their duties to carry out the registration of voters in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.”
Citing provisions of Section 120(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, he said any officer who acted in breach of his or her official duty committed an offence and would be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.