Lawyer Vincent Ottaokpukpu has taken the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking the court to nullify the ₦1.5 billion fee INEC charged for producing copies of the national register of voters and list of polling units.
Ottaokpukpu applied under the Freedom of Information Act to get certified copies of these documents electronically, but INEC demanded the steep cost based on their guideline charging ₦250 per page. The lawyer argued this fee was excessive and exploitative, citing that typical duplication costs are much lower, sometimes as low as ₦30 to ₦50 per page.
He pointed out that INEC holds these documents electronically, so producing them this way would save resources and reduce costs. Ottaokpukpu is willing to pay a fair price to access these documents, stressing that the current charge acts as a barrier denying public access to vital electoral information.
The case awaits judge assignment, with the lawyer seeking the court’s order to have INEC provide the documents on external hard drives or email at a reasonable cost and to declare the current charges null and void.
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