Court Grants Order Compelling Holidays for Students for Election

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted an order seeking to compel the Federal Government to declare a short vacation across all tertiary institutions in the country to enable students who are eligible to vote to travel to their various wards to participate in the forthcoming general elections.

The suit was brought before the court by a final-year student of the University of Benin, Moses Omoyele.

The plaintiff, through his lawyer, Jideobi Johnmary, told the court that he instituted the action as a concerned student and human rights activist, to enforce his fundamental right and that of over 4 million Nigerian students he said are at risk of being disenfranchised.

Cited as Respondents in the Originating Summons he anchored are the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Minister of Education.

Equally joined as Respondents in the matter are; the National Universities Commission, NUC, the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, as well as the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE.

In a 28-paragraphed affidavit that was attached in support of the suit, the plaintiff told the court that there are over 2.1 million students currently studying in Nigerian Universities, while over 2.4 million are students in Polytechnics, Monotechnics and Colleges of Education across the country

No date has been fixed for hearing.