Court Dismisses Suit Seeking To Allow Voting Without PVCs

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has on Tuesday struck out a suit seeking to compel INEC to allow the use of Temporary Voter Cards or Voter Identification Number at the 2023 general elections.

The Incorporated Trustees of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law led by Mr Emmanuel Chukwuka and Mr Bruno Okeahialam had dragged INEC to court seeking an order to compel it to allow voting without the Permanent Voter Cards, (PVC))

The plaintiffs filed the suit in December 2022 alleging that if the court did not intervene, about 29 million registered voters would be disenfranchised at the 2023 general elections

Delivering judgment, Justice Binta Nyako held that the suit was inchoate.

The judge reasoned that it was a “Catch-22’’ situation as on the one hand, INEC was begging registered voters to take delivery of their PVCs.

On the other hand, affected potential voters were claiming that their PVCs were not available for collection.

A Catch-22 is a seemingly absurd situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations.

“Unless you give me a list of uncollected PVCs and a list of those who have registered but have not gotten their PVCs then I can make a decision; if not, it remains a dicey situation,’’ the judge ruled.

She maintained that the suit amounted to an academic exercise since INEC had extended the date for registered voters to collect their PVCs and the exercise was still on-going.

Justice Nyako also held that the Electoral Act provided for INEC to deploy any technological device for the election and that INEC still had time to deploy the technological device to ensure that all eligible voters were able to vote.

She, however, said that she would not dismiss the suit, but only strike it out to allow the plaintiffs to re-file it if they had fresh and sufficient evidence.

“If INEC concludes the distribution of the PVCs it has and you still have this 29 million voters you are representing who haven’t collected theirs, then bring back the suit,’’ the judge ruled.