The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has refused to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to allow the use of Temporary Voters Card or Voters Identification Numbers (VIN) during the 2023 general elections.

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The suit was filed by the Incorporated Trustees Of the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Barrister Emmanuel Chukwuka and Mr Bruno Okeahialam.

The group had claimed to be representing 29 million registered voters about to be disenfranchised in the 2023 General Election

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The plaintiff’s lawyer, M.N Ozoaka, had sought the following reliefs: “A Declaration that all Persons who have duly registered with the INEC as voters and whose names are contained in the defendant’s register of voters and or electronic database of registered voters should not and cannot be deprived of the right and opportunity to vote in the forthcoming general election fixed for February to March 2023.

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” An Order of the Honourable Court compelling the Defendant to release forthwith the Permanent Voters Cards of the Plaintiffs and all members of their class to enable them to vote in the forthcoming general election fixed for February to March 2023.
Or as an alternative, an Order of the Honourable Court directing the Defendant to reprint, distribute and release the Permanent Voters’ Cards of the Plaintiffs and all Persons they represent in this suit or otherwise allow them to vote with their old (temporary) voters’ cards or registration slips already issued and released to them by the defendant, the affected persons having been duly registered and Captured in the Defendant’s register of voters and or electronic database of registered voters.”

Ozoaka had told Justice Binta Nyako last Monday, that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), is designed to read the details of registered voters without PVCS since the VIN is captured on the INEC database.

INEC’s legal representative, Abdul Aziz Sabi SAN, urged the court to decline jurisdiction on the matter because the electoral umpire has extended the deadline for the collection of PVCs.

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He also denied the plaintiff’s claim that the last six digits of VIN can be captured by BVAS.

Passing her verdict on Tuesday, Justice Nyako held that the application amounts to an academic exercise because the PVC collection exercise is not over.

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“The Commission has insisted that only PVC will be used,” she said.

“This application is hereby struck out,” the judge said, adding she would not dismiss it, giving the applicant another window to sue again.

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