Court stops INEC from ending voter registration June 30

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission from stopping the continuous voter registration on June 30.

The interim injunction barring INEC from ending the CVR on June 30 was by Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon on Monday after hearing an argument on motion exparte by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project.

SERAP had approached the court to stop INEC from ending the CVR at the stipulated date after the electoral body extended the time given to political parties to conduct their primary elections.

SERAP and 185 concerned Nigerians had early this month filed the lawsuit against INEC asking the court to “declare unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights.”

In the suit, SERAP had asked the court for “an order restraining INEC, its agents, privies, assigns, or any other person(s) claiming through it from discontinuing the continuous voters’ registration exercise from the 30th June 2022 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”

The suit is adjourned to 29th June, 2022 for the hearing of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.

In the suit number FHC/L/CS/1034/2022 filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, and transferred to Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether the failure of INEC to extend the deadline for voter registration is not a violation of Nigerian Constitution, 1999 [as amended], the Electoral Act, and international standards.”