Federal High Court hears case on Prisoners right to Vote in 2015 election

The Federal High Court No 2 Abuja division will tomorrow February 4 2014 hear arguments on the case filed by 2 prisoners seeking orders to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to register and allow them to vote in the 2015 general elections. The prisoners contend that they still have all the rights of every citizen despite their imprisonment.

The Nigerian laws allow all citizens who have attained the age of 18 years or above the right to vote in elections and to participate in selecting who will govern them.

In a suit filed in 2012 on behalf of the prisoners by Legal Defence & Assistance Project LEDAP, the prisoners seek orders of court to declare that they have the right to vote in all general elections and therefore eligible to be registered and allowed to vote. They therefore seek an order to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register them as well as all prisoners in the country and to set up polling stations in all prisons so that prisoners can exercise their rights to vote.

 There are about 75,000 inmates in the Nigeria’s 142 prisons and lock-ups. Over the years, these prisoners have been disfranchised because there are no arrangements to conduct voter registration or polls in the prisons.

The counsel to the prisoners, Mr Chino Obiagwu of LEDAP said in a statement that ‘excluding prisoners from voting in elections is not only discriminatory but gross violation of their rights to freedom of expression. … A prisoner does not lose the rights he or she has a citizen simply because of fact of imprisonment, even if convicted and sentence to death.”

If the court finds in favour of the Prisoners, it will open up the prisons for more humane treatment of their inmates, thereby increasing the respect for the rights of prisoners in the country.