Adewole Kehinde, a journalist with Swift Reporters, an online news platform, has filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for denying him the right to vote in the upcoming general election which is only 19 days away.
Kehinde said he transferred his voter’s registration from Area 11, Abuja to the Nyanya axis in July 2022 due to relocation to be able to vote in his new place of residence but he has not been able to access his permanent voters’ card (PVC).
“I transferred my PVC in July 2022 from Area 11 by Area 3 junction to my new residence in Nyanya,” the journalist said.
“I checked online to confirm that my card was successfully transferred to Nyanya as can be seen on the INEC Website. On getting to the INEC office in Karu under AMAC, my slip was collected and after waiting for three hours, I was told my card could not be found. I filled out a form and was told to come back in two weeks.
“Today, Saturday, 4 February 2023 makes it the seventh time I have visited INEC offices to get my PVC but ‘not seen’ is what they keep writing on my slip. I called the attention of Festus Okoye of INEC to it and he promised to check and get back to me and up till this moment, I have not heard from him.”
Kehinde implored the court to award him N500 million for the damages caused by INEC, adding that the electoral body should be mandated to either provide his PVC before 25 February 2022 or postpone the presidential election until his PVC is accessed.
He said, “Since INEC wants to deny me my fundamental right to vote, I don’t have a choice but to sue them for N500 million even though my single vote is far above the N500 million.
“There are thousands of Nigerians that have come to me to indicate interest in joining in the suit against INEC, and hopefully by Monday, 7 February, my lawyer will serve INEC.
“It is either INEC prints my PVC before 25 February 2023 or the court will stop the election until my PVC is printed and handed over to me. INEC cannot just deny me my vote, and I can’t vote with the old PVC since it has been transferred to Nyanya.”
