Prisoners' to participate in the
2015 Elections
A Nigeria court has ruled that prisoners should be able
to vote in all national and local elections.
The ruling from the Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, comes ahead of
closely-fought general elections in February 2015.Earlier this year, there were nearly 57,000 prisoners across the country, the Nigerian Prisons Services said.
Almost 70% of these have not been convicted of a crime - many wait for their trials for several years.
"To deny inmates the right to vote is unconstitutional, illegal, irregular, unlawful, null and void and of no effect whatsoever," Justice Mohammed Lima said on Tuesday.
"Being an inmate is not an offence that impedes their registration and voting right under section 24 of the Electoral Act," he added.
The judge ordered Nigeria's election commission to update its register of voters to take into account the prison population.
So inmates will participate in the 2015 elections in Nigeria
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