The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on Thursday night that it will appeal a court order permitting the use of temporary voter cards (TVCs) in the March 18, 2023, governorship and state assembly elections. Rotimi Oyekanmi, the spokesperson for INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, told our correspondent that the commission had received a copy of the judgment delivered by the Federal High Court, Abuja Division. The judgment ordered INEC to allow two plaintiffs to vote with their TVCs, and the commission is taking immediate steps to appeal the trial court’s decision.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had ruled that INEC must permit the use of temporary voter cards in the upcoming elections. The suit was filed by two aggrieved Nigerians, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell, on February 8 (case number FHC/ABJ/CS/180/2023). They sought to use TVCs in the general election because they did not possess permanent voter cards (PVCs). In their filing, the plaintiffs challenged INEC’s position and asked the court to determine whether a person whose name appears in INEC’s electronic database, as well as in the manual, printed paper‑based register, and who has been assigned a Voter’s Identification Number, is entitled to be accredited to vote with a TVC in the election.
The plaintiffs requested a declaration that, having fulfilled all legal requirements for registration and being recorded in INEC’s central database and manual registers, they are entitled to vote using their TVCs in the 2023 general election. The court ruled that neither the 1999 Constitution nor the Electoral Act expressly restricts voting to PVCs. Instead, Section 47 of the Electoral Act provides for the use of a voter card, which can include temporary voter cards.
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