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INEC considers implementing inmate voting
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed its willingness to support voting rights for eligible inmates in Nigeria’s correctional facilities, following judicial rulings that confirm such rights.
This commitment was stated by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Friday during a courtesy visit by the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Sylvester Nwakuche, at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.
“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,” Yakubu said. “In many parts of the world, including some African countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa where our officials observed elections, inmates exercised the right to vote.”
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Yakubu referenced a 2019 Court of Appeal ruling which validated the right of inmates—especially those still awaiting trial—to both register and participate in elections.
He emphasized, however, the importance of having unambiguous legislation to ensure lawful execution of this right, saying:
“You may recall that in recognition of this situation, the Commission had several discussions with the correctional service on how inmates who wish to register and vote in elections can do so. We even set up a joint technical committee to review all the issues involved and advise on the way forward.”
According to the INEC Chairman, collaboration with the correctional authorities had already begun, including access to data detailing prison locations and the categories of inmates within them.
He further noted the Commission’s concerns about challenges such as access for voter registration, the logistics of creating polling units, and the facilitation of political campaigns, media access, and election monitoring within correctional institutions.
“Political parties also want to know if they will be allowed to campaign in the correctional facilities and appoint polling agents on election day. We believe that working together with you and the stakeholders, we can address these concerns,” Yakubu said.
He also drew attention to Section 12(1)(e) of the Electoral Act 2022, which restricts voting to citizens not under any “legal incapacity,” and urged the National Assembly to clarify whether this exclusion includes inmates sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or convicted of treason.
“Our immediate task is to engage with the National Assembly for a clear legal provision on inmate voting. Thereafter, we can address the specific issues that may arise in the course of implementation,” he added.
In his remarks, the Corrections Chief, Sylvester Nwakuche, appealed to INEC to ensure voting rights for inmates, pointing out that more than 81,000 inmates are currently held across Nigeria, and around 66 percent of them are still awaiting trial.
He referred to a recent court decision that confirmed the voting rights of inmates who are yet to be convicted.
Although the Court of Appeal in Benin ruled in favor of five inmates who brought the matter to court in 2019, it did not direct INEC to establish voter registration points in prison facilities.
Yakubu, however, assured the visiting delegation that INEC remains committed to exploring all legal means to enable inmate participation in the electoral process.
“The Commission is aware of the judgements of the Federal High Court in Benin delivered on 16th December 2014 and the Court of Appeal, also in Benin, delivered on 7th December 2018 pertaining to the right to vote by five plaintiffs awaiting trial,” he said.
“However, the judges ruled that the right to vote is only excisable when asserted as it is a choice to be exercised voluntarily by a citizen and not a duty to be imposed by force of authority.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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