Nigerian Prisoners To Participate In 2019 Election - INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that it is making arrangements with the Nigerian Prisons Service to allow certain prisoners to vote in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said this on Tuesday in Abuja at a dialogue session involving over 70 civil society organizations in Nigeria.

This development is coming three years after a Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State ruled that prisoners in Nigeria have the right to vote in all elections conducted in every part of the country.

Yakubu said that INEC is considering creating polling units in Nigerian prisons, clarifying that only “certain categories of prisoners” would be given the right to vote depending on the nature of the crimes committed.

He said, “We have already engaged the Comptroller-General of Prisons and we have statistics on the number of prisoners nationwide and the number of inmates registered. We are looking at the possibility of creating polling units in the prisons and to enable some categories of prisoners to vote."

UCJ, UNILORIN