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Nigeria: prison inmates may vote in 2023

The Independent National Electoral Commission, on Tuesday, expressed optimism that inmates in Nigeria Correctional Centres might vote during the 2023 general election.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, gave the hint when he received the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service, Haliru Nababa, and his team at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

At the parley, both organisations agreed that it was high time inmates were granted voting rights in compliance with an existing High Court judgement in Benin City, which ruled in favour of inmate voting.

As of 2020, there were about 73,726 inmates in Nigeria’s correctional facilities across the country.