The Independent National Electoral Commission and the Nigerian Correctional Service are partnering to secure voting rights for inmates in the nation’s prisons.
During a courtesy visit by the Controller General of the NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Friday, INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu acknowledged the rising demand for extending voting rights to inmates in correctional facilities across the country.
The central focus of the meeting was the voting rights of inmates, most of whom are on remand and awaiting trial.
Yakubu acknowledged that inmates in several other countries, including Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, are permitted to vote, and noted that Nigerian courts have also ruled in favour of this right.
However, he clarified that the courts emphasised voting as a voluntary act that must be asserted, not a mandatory duty.