PROMINENT human rights lawyers Femi Falana and Olisa Agbakoba have opposed the proposed bill to make voting compulsory Nigerians.
Similarly, Yiaga Africa, an election observation and civic advocacy organisation, disapproved of the bill.
They described the bill as unconstitutional.
The ICIR reported that during plenary on Thursday, May 15, the bill seeking to amend the Electoral Act 2022, and make voting compulsory for Nigerians of voting age passed second reading in the House of Representatives.
It is jointly sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Daniel Asama Ago, a lawmaker from Plateau State and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to the bill, the amendment seeks to address voter apathy and boost civic participation. It proposes a six-month jail term or a fine of N100,000 for eligible citizens who fail to vote.
However, in a statement issued on Monday, May 19, titled ‘Compulsory Voting is Not Enough’, Falana criticised the proposed legislation on constitutional grounds, arguing that the bill contradicts several provisions of the 1999 Constitution, which protect citizens’ rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and freedom of conscience.
“The Speaker of the House of Representatives probably wants Nigeria to join Egypt – the only African country out of 23 globally with provisions for compulsory voting.
“The said constitutional provisions protect the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people to privacy, freedom of thought and conscience, as well as the freedom to register and vote in national and state elections conducted in Nigeria.
“However, it is doubtful whether the Speaker and his colleagues have paid sufficient attention to the relevant provisions of the Constitution. Otherwise, they would have realised that the compulsory voting is constitutionally invalid in every material particular on the ground that it is inconsistent with Sections 37, 38, 77(2), 135(5) and 178(5) of the Constitution.
“Compulsory voting cannot be legalised in vacuo. Apart from the possibility that it may be declared illegal under the current political dispensation, it is practically impossible to prosecute millions of Nigerians who may decide to boycott national and local elections that have been reduced to the periodic renewal of misgovernance, corruption, and abuse of power by pampered members of the political class,” Falana warned.
Similarly, speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Agbakoba derided the lawmakers’ plan to mandate voting, stating that he would rather go to jail than comply with such a law.
He argued that forcing citizens to vote did not address the underlying reasons why many choose to abstain from elections.
“Look at the ridiculous one in the National Assembly about voting being compulsory. If that bill were to pass, I would say, ‘Agbakoba, we will not obey it.’ I’ll plead a conscientious objection. I’d rather go to prison for six months than to obey it,” he said.
He challenged the logic of the bill, questioning why the National Assembly is pushing to make voting compulsory.
“Why don’t they reverse the question and say, Why are Nigerians not interested? What is the apathy about?”, he asked.
In the same vein, The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, rejected the bill in a statement, arguing that although the bill sought to address low voter turnout, the lawmakers’ approach represented a serious violation of the fundamental rights of Nigerians.
“The said bill is conceived as a legislative intervention to address the abysmally low voter turnout. While the rationale for the bill is plausible because it aims to address one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria’s electoral system, the strong-arm approach adopted by the bill is draconian and it constitutes a gross violation of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
“Indeed, the right to abstain from voting is itself a legitimate form of political expression protected under domestic and international human rights law,” he said.
The ICIR reported that despite over 93 million registered voters and 87 million who collected permanent voter cards (PVCs), only about 25 million Nigerians voted in the 2023 presidential election.
This translates to a turnout rate of approximately 29 per cent, marking the lowest in Nigeria’s recent electoral history.
The ICIR also gathered regional disparities, with the South-East recording the lowest turnout at 22.3 per cent and the North-Central the highest at 32.83 per cent.
However, Yiaga’s executive stressed that democracy thrives in a climate of freedom, including the freedom to choose whether or not to vote and warned that enforcing punitive measures for non-participation undermined the core principles of voluntary democratic participation.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.