The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Nigerian Correctional Service have opened talks on allowing prison inmates to vote in future elections.
The move could see thousands of incarcerated Nigerians, many of whom have not been convicted, join the country’s voting population.
During his first official visit to INEC headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, the Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sylvester Ndidi Nwakuche Ofori, said more than 81,000 people are currently in the country’s correctional centres, with about two-thirds awaiting trial.
“Anybody can find themselves on the other side of the law. We need to be careful how they are treated. They have rights, and one of those rights is the right to vote. The fact that they are in incarceration should not strip them of their citizenship,” Ofori said.
He added that the service was seeking INEC’s cooperation to “see how we can, even if not immediately, in the nearest future, extend this fundamental right to inmates.”
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, welcomed the proposal, saying countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa already allow prisoners to vote.
He noted that Nigerian court rulings in 2014 and 2018 affirmed the rights of certain categories of inmates, especially those awaiting trial, to take part in elections.
“Working together, we can seize the opportunity of ongoing electoral reform for a clear legal provision that will specifically cover citizens serving time in our correctional facilities,” Yakubu said.
“Our immediate task is to engage with the National Assembly for clarity and legal backing.”
