From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has threatened to commence legal action against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over the suspension of the Continuous Voters Registration exercise.
The pressure group while condemning the action in a statement yesterday described the action as an affront to the democratic process and a deprivation of the civic rights of Nigerians.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, who signed the statement, said that his group has begun consultations with like-minded civil rights platforms on the likelihood of immediately challenging the illegality of the decision of the electoral umpire to suspend voter registration on July 31, 2022.
Onwubiko, however, disclosed that either way, the group would make its final decision tomorrow.
It is the contention of HURIWA that suspending voter registration more than six months before a general election will disenfranchise millions of Nigerians, including the youths who will clock 18 from August 2022, and Diasporans who plan to return home.
HURIWA warned INEC to desist from such undemocratic move and deliberate disenfranchisement which is illegal, noting that there is nothing wrong in extending voter registration to December 31, 2022.
The electoral body on Friday announced the suspension of voter registration by end of July following the Wednesday judgment by a Federal High Court dismissesing the suit filed by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP.
SERAP had gone to court to seek an extension of the exercise beyond June 30, 2022, but the court ruled in favour of INEC.
But reacting, Onwubiko said: “The decision of INEC to suspend voter registration by end of July is not only illegal, but undemocratic. INEC must extend the process till December in accordance with the affirmation by the court that the CVR can only be suspended 90 days before the date fixed for the general election as provided in Section 9(6) of the Electoral Act 2022. Anything other than that is an intentional disenfranchisement of the Nigerian people who now have increased political consciousness.