Court Orders INEC To Allow Use Of Temporary Voters Cards For The Governorship Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been ordered to permit the use of Temporary Voter Cards (TVC) in the March 18 gubernatorial election by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The ruling was made on Thursday by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, in a case brought by two Nigerian citizens who wanted to use temporary voter cards (TVCs) in place of permanent voter cards (PVCs) during the general elections.

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The judge claims that the order was made on the basis that the plaintiffs were legitimately registered and included in INEC’s database before the start of the general election.

However, the court stated that because the lawsuit was not brought in a representative capacity, it would not be able to grant prayer number three, which was to allow every eligible voter with a TVC to cast a ballot.

The judge stated, “I find myself unable to grant any relief pursuant to prayer three of the plaintiff’s application, as this suit has not been brought in a representative capacity.”

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The court ruled that no provision of the 1999 Constitution or the Electoral Act, nor any other law, made it clear that only PVCs could be used to cast ballots; rather, Section 47 of the law provided for voter’s cards.