The Senate on Tuesday urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow Nigerians serving sentences in correctional centres to vote during the 2023 general elections.

This followed the adoption of a motion by Abba Moro (PDP-Benue) during the plenary.

Presenting the motion, Mr Moro said prisoners were Nigerian citizens who should be allowed to exercise their constitutional rights of voting during elections.

“The Senate notes that certain human rights are inalienable and come naturally with the birth of the individual.

“One of such rights is that of citizenship, incarceration though is one of the legal grounds of depriving a person or an offender in the custody of certain rights, the right of citizenship cannot at any point be taken away.

“There are certain persons in prison custody awaiting trial, undergoing trial or awaiting conviction for one offence or the other whose right to vote and citizenship remain sacrosanct,” the lawmaker argued.

Mr Moro added, “Being a prison inmate is not an impediment to the Prisoners’ registration and voting rights as enshrined under Section 24 of the Electoral Act, 2022.”

According to him, “denying prison inmates access to the electoral process constitutes an infringement of their rights as citizens of Nigeria as provided under Section 25 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

The Senate, therefore, urged INEC to collaborate with the Nigeria Correctional Service to locate voting centres in prisons across the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.

(NAN)