The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been given a 90-day deadline by a federal high court located in Abuja to identify the individuals responsible for the registration of minors as voters nationwide.

Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, also ordered that the culprits be handed over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.

The judge ordered the commission to immediately remove all of the names of the minor voters from every polling place in the federation that were posted on its website from its national voters’ register.

He further made an order compelling the commission to furnish the plaintiff with a certified true copy (CTC) of the cleaned-up national voters’ register of all the persons eligible to vote in Nigeria within 90 days.

Alternatively, he ordered the electoral umpire to publish the cleaned-up national voters’ register of all the persons eligible to vote in the country on its website within 90 days from the date of the judgment.

Recall that Mike Agbon, a cleric, had sued INEC in the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/367/2023 filed on March 17.

In the suit, the plaintiff, through his lawyer, Desmond Yamah, submitted that the lack of credibility in Nigeria’s electoral process has caused great distress in the political space.

Agbon said before the 2023 general election, the electoral umpire conducted Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) nationwide and displayed the national register of voters on its website between November 12, 2022 and November 25, 2022.

He said after looking through the national voter registration database, he realised that the commission registered voters who were underage, in violation of the Electoral Act, which specified the requirements for registration in detail.

The plaintiff backed his argument with compiled copies from the INEC website of the underage registered and marked it as “Exhibit A.”

He told the court that on November 23, 2022, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, at a national stakeholders’ forum on elections organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR), assured Nigerians that the commission would clean up the register ahead of the elections.

Agbon said through his lawyer, he formally requested the commission to furnish him with the list and names of the underage and ineligible voters, but it vehemently refused and ignored the said application.

However, despite being served with court processes and hearing notices, INEC was neither represented in court nor filed any defence.

Delivering judgment on November 28, Egwuatu ruled in favour of the plaintiff.

“As I have found earlier in this judgment, the voters registered by the defendant in Exhibit ‘A’ are underage, that is, they have not attained the age of 18 years,” he said.

“What this translates into is that the registration officers and an update officers of the defendant failed in their duties to carry out the registration of voters in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.”

Citing provisions of Section 120(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022, he said any officer who acted in breach of his or her official duty committed an offence and would be liable on conviction to a maximum fine of N500, 000 or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both.

The Federal Government funded 422 persons to the ongoing COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said.

The minister made this known in a statement on Monday following a controversy trailing 1,411 Nigerian registered delegates at the summit.

President Bola Tinubu had on November 29, 2023, departed Abuja for Dubai for the summit expected to end on December 12, 2023.

Controversy has since surrounded the number of Nigerian delegates at the summit which ranked that of China, with many Nigerians on social media berating the government for being “insensitive” to their economic sufferings occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy in mid-2023.

Opposition political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP) had called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) government to release the number of government-sponsored delegates to the Dubai summit.

Providing “clarity” on the controversy, the minister said “Nigeria’s representation is very much in line with our status as Africa’s leading Sovereign voice and player in climate action”.

The government said the Nigerian delegation include government officials, representatives from the private sector, civil society, the voluntary sector, state governments, media, multilateral institutions, representatives of marginalised communities, and many others.

“It is imperative to point out that the overall Nigerian delegation to COP-28 comprises Government-sponsored (Federal and State Governments) and non-government-sponsored participants (from Private Companies, NGOs, CSOs, Media, academia, etc),” the statement partly read.

“The Federal Government-funded delegation is made up of a total of 422 persons, as follows:

“National Council on Climate Change = 32

“Federal Ministry of Environment = 34

“All Ministries = 167

“Presidency = 67

“Office of the Vice President = 9

“National Assembly = 40

“Federal Parastatals/Agencies = 73.”

• Tinubu In Dubai For Serious Business

The minister said Nigeria’s “active and robust participation at COP” was not “unwarranted” as the biggest economy and most populous country in Africa.

He assured Nigerians that the President and other officials on the government’s delegation were in Dubai for “serious business, not a jamboree”.

Credit: Channels TV

• Federal lawmakers invite ministers, heads of agencies, security chiefs, others

The National Assembly is set to meet the December 31 target for the passage and signing of the 2024 Appropriation Bill in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s request.

President Tinubu, while presenting the bill and laying the budget on Wednesday, urged the lawmakers to give it speedy passage to ensure the continuation of the January to December financial cycle.

Ministers, heads of departments and agencies, security chiefs and chief executive officers of institutions to which funding is appropriated have been summoned by the lawmakers for a parley tomorrow on how to achieve the target.

The meeting will set the template for the process to pass the N27.6 trillion Budget of Renewed Hope.

Chairman of the Senate Appropriation, Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, told The Nation last night that a no-nonsense approach will be adopted.

He warned that heads of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) who fail to defend their votes would run on zero allocation next year.

The Senate committee chairman said the plan for speedy passage of the budget will be threatened should the executive introduce a fresh request.

Senator Adeola said: “We are sitting as a joint committee (Senate and House of Representatives) and what this means is that only one report will come from the Appropriation Committee.

“Unlike in the past when we had to sit together for harmonisation and concurrence, what we will have from the joint committees is the harmonised report. This will save considerable time.

“What we don’t expect from the Executive is the introduction of a new item that had not been accommodated in the budget that is already with us for consideration.

“The strategies we have adopted will make the deadline achievable.

“President Tinubu himself is aware of the exigency of time and he has warned his ministers and heads of MDAs to cooperate with us.

“We believe that nobody from the executive arm of government will flout the directive on this.

“If any agency fails to defend its vote, nothing will be appropriated for such agency for next year.

“We need maximum cooperation from the heads of the MDAs to achieve the set target.

“Any minister who fails to honour our invitation will operate on zero allocation next year.

“So, we are putting a lot of sacrifice into the task to deliver the budget on schedule. This is the only way to sustain the January – December budget cycle.”

Expected at tomorrow’s one-day retreat are members of the Senate standing committees and their House of Representatives counterparts.

A source said: “They are going to have something like a retreat on Tuesday, to be attended by all Senate and House of Representatives committee chairmen and all heads of MDAs.

“The planned retreat by the Senate Committee on Appropriations will enable an interaction on the quick passage of the budget before the National Assembly goes on recess for the Yuletide.”

According to the notice of invitation signed by Adeola, Dr. Ayo Teriba has been invited to speak as a guest lecturer.

The economist is to speak on how to get improved outcomes from the 2024 budget, it was learnt.

On the invitation list are chief executives and heads of MDAs; Service chiefs (Army, Navy and Air Force); Inspector-General of Police (IGP); Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); and Comptrollers-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

Others are royal fathers, heads of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Development Associations (CDAs).

Credit: The Nation