Tag: Voting

 

By Perpetua Onuegbu
Abuja:  (NAN)/FLOWERBUDNEWS):   A non-governmental organisation (NGO), Global Rights, has has expressed its opposition to the bill currently before the House of Representatives seeking to make voting compulsory for all eligible Nigerians.

Executive Director of the NGO, Abiodun Baiyewu, in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja, said the bill with penalties, including ₦100,000 fine, six months imprisonment or both, violated the citizens’ civic rights.

“We believe in civic participation and the value of voting in a democratic society, but we firmly reject the idea that Nigerians should be forced to vote under threat of punishment.

“This proposal is not just misguided, it is undemocratic. Voting is indeed a civic duty and a vital responsibility in any democracy.

“However, civic duty should be encouraged through public trust, education and access, not enforced through criminal penalties.

“In a truly democratic society, participation must be voluntary, meaningful and inspired by confidence in the system, not compelled by fear of fines or imprisonment,” he said.

Baiyewu said that low voter turnout, including the less than 30 per cent recorded in the 2023 general elections, was not primarily due to indifference to the outcome, but rather a mistrust in the electoral process.

According to him, the mistrust is further compounded by violence, vote buying, hate speech and disinformation that continue to plague the country’s elections.

He said that the increasing monetisation of politics, deployment of thugs, routine use of incendiary rhetorics and fake news during campaigns had created an environment in which many Nigerians no longer believed elections were fair, safe or meaningful.

The executive director made reference to a research conducted by the organisation, tagged ‘Disarming Weapons of Lies and Hate: Countering the Weaponisation of Identity-Based Hate and Fake News in Nigeria’s Elections’.

“The report showed that 90.7 per cent of respondents agreed that hate speech and fake news have damaged social cohesion, while 67.5 per cent reported that such rhetoric reduced their willingness to participate in the electoral process.

“Many Nigerians also expressed little faith in the judiciary, which often serves as the final arbiter of election disputes, but is widely perceived as lacking independence.

“Rather than criminalising non-voters, lawmakers should focus on restoring public confidence in the democratic process,” he said.

Baiyewu argued that the legislators should use their oversight powers to ensure that INEC fully complied with the Electoral Act and that elections were transparent and credible.

He said that efforts must also be directed toward making democracy more inclusive, particularly for women, persons with disabilities and young people who were being faced with systemic barriers to political participation.

“More importantly, people and groups that commit electoral violence must be accountable, as this is one of the greatest deterrents to voter engagement in Nigeria.

“Global Rights remains committed to promoting civic engagement and belief in the power of the vote. However, democracy must be built on trust, fairness and freedom, not compulsion.

“While the supporters of this legislation have recognised a symptom in the myriad of issues plaguing our democracy, they are hastily prescribing the wrong medication to deal with the symptom but not the disease.

“If the goal is truly to strengthen participation, the solution lies in fixing the system, not punishing citizens for losing faith in it,” he said. (NAN)

 

 

By Perpetua Onuegbu
Abuja:   (NAN) A civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, has kicked against a bill before the National Assembly seeking to introduce compulsory voting in Nigeria and prescribe six months jail term for any eligible voters who refuses to vote.

Executive Director of the NGO, Mr Samson Itodo, in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, described the bill as draconian.

He acknowledged the fact that the bill was conceived as a legislative intervention to address what he called an abysmally low voter turnout in the county.

Itodo also said that the rationale behind the bill was to address one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria’s electoral system.

He, however, said that the strong-arm approach adopted by the bill was draconian and that constituted a gross violation of constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental human rights.

Indeed, the right to abstain from voting is itself a legitimate form of political expression protected under domestic and international human rights law.

“Voter turnout in Nigeria has fluctuated significantly over the years, reflecting a complex interplay of political and systemic factors that influence electoral participation.

“In 1979, turnout stood at 34.6 per cent, increasing slightly to 38.9 per cent in 1983 and holding at 35 per cent in 1993.

“A notable surge occurred in 1999 with a turnout of 52.3 per cent, followed by a peak in 2003 when 69.1 per cent of registered voters participated,” he recalled.

Itodo noted that the upward trend, however , got reversed in subsequent elections, 57.5 per cent in 2007, 53.7 per cent in 2011, 43.7 per cent in 2015, 34.7 per cent in 2019 and a historic low
of 27.1 per cent in 2023.

According to him, the sharp decline has positioned Nigeria as the largest democracy in Africa with the lowest voter turnout.

“Democracy thrives on freedom which includes the choice to participate or abstain from voting.

“Compulsory voting undermines this democratic freedom and punitive sanctions for not voting erodes the foundational principles of voluntary democratic engagement.

“The bill, in its entirety, fails to address the drivers of voter apathy, such as distrust in the electoral process, election manipulation and poor governance.

Rather han compelling voting, Itodo said that the national assembly should prioritise electoral reforms that would rebuild public trust, improve election integrity and remove structural and systemic barriers to participation.

“These include reforms that guarantee mandatory electronic transmission of results, review of the mode of appointments into INEC, early voting, diaspora voting and improved transparency in the management of elections,” je said.

The executive director said that voter apathy should not be addressed with imposing punishment for not but through trust, electoral justice and accountability.

He, therefore, urged the national assembly to reject the proposed bill and channel its legislative efforts toward passing the electoral amendment that would expand access to voting, guarantee electoral transparency and protect the political rights of Nigerians.(NAN)