The House of Representatives acted wisely and democratically in withdrawing the bill seeking to make voting mandatory for all eligible Nigerians. While the legislators were justifiably concerned with widespread voter apathy characterising elections in the country, the attempt to criminalise non-voting was wrong-headed. It was not surprising that the bill was greeted with stiff resistance across sections of the country, while only a few voices resonated in its favour. The task before the legislature, and indeed the entire government and its agencies, is to review the electoral process and plug all the loopholes that discourage many Nigerians from coming out to exercise their voting rights during elections.
The lawmakers’ proposal sparked critical discourse on Nigeria’s electoral system. The withdrawn proposal law titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act 2022 to Make It Mandatory for All Nigerians of Majority Age to Vote in All National and State Elections and for Related Matters’, seeks to make voting compulsory for eligible Nigerians. The bill, sponsored by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen and Daniel Ago, prescribes sanctions, including fines of up to N100,000 or six months’ imprisonment, for eligible Nigerians who fail to vote. It had passed the second reading.
Justifying the general principle of the bill, Ago had argued that the initiative would address the persistent issue of voter apathy in the country. He maintained that balloting should be made a legal obligation rather than a personal choice to bolster civic engagement and participation in general elections, strengthen democracy, improve representation, foster greater political awareness, and reduce vote buying.
Adopting this position, the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, had stated that voting is one of the crucial civic responsibilities expected of citizens. He cited Australia, where voting is mandatory and failure to vote is considered a crime, and submitted that compulsory polling results in more stable and inclusive governance.
Predictably, many public scholars opposed the bill and questioned the legal and moral propriety of penalising abstention, emphasising that voter apathy is symptomatic of underlying issues in the election, which should be addressed first. Obviously deferring to the wide objections, the sponsors of the bill withdrew it “after speaking with many people and groups across the country.”
Dr Omenazu Jackson, a political analyst and chancellor of the International Society for Social Justice and Human Rights (ISSJHR), warned against criminalising voter apathy, asserting that electoral apathy in Nigeria is not due to laziness or indifference but a direct response to repeated betrayals, selective justice, unfulfilled promises, and institutions that serve power rather than the people.
Expressing a similar stance, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) described the bill as unconstitutional and a direct affront to civil liberties. “Compelling an individual to vote, regardless of their faith in the electoral process or options presented, amounts to a violation of their personal convictions and political freedoms,” said the NBA, relying on Section 39(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression.
Indubitably, an election is the bedrock of validity of any democratic setting. Therefore, the fundamental mechanism through which people can voice or express themselves is by participating and voting in elections. To this end, voter apathy is antithetical to the advancement and sustenance of democracy.
Conversely, the people have the immutable right to question or reject any leadership recruitment process that is perceived to be of questionable integrity. Democracy vests full authority in the people and grants to them inalienable rights and freedom that cannot be arbitrarily taken away by the government. One of such sacred privileges is the right to free, fair, transparent and credible elections. However, is the Nigerian electoral system trustworthy to engender civic trust?
Data from the election management body shows that Nigeria’s voter turnout has been declining since 2007. Reportedly, “voter turnout went up from 52.3 per cent in 1999 to 69 per cent in 2003. However, it has been on the decline nearly ever since – 57.5 per cent in 2007, 53.7 per cent in 2011, 43.7 per cent in 2015 and 34.8 per cent in 2019.”
Even though the voter population rose from 84,004,084 to 93,469,008 (an increase of nearly 10 million voters) between the 2019 and 2023 elections, only a little over 25 million people (constituting about 28.63 per cent of the total registered voters) voted at the last general elections. So, why is Nigeria experiencing low voter turnout?
Unarguably, Nigerians’ apathy towards elections underscores a profound erosion of confidence in the present electoral framework. After years of sustained electoral malpractices, marked by brazen rigging, mutilation of ballot papers, manipulations of results, large-scale violence (including killings), voters’ harassment and assault, financial inducements (bribery of electoral officials, votes buying, etc.), zero prosecution and punishments of electoral offenders, complicated adjudicatory process that somewhat emboldens electoral vices, controversial judgments (mostly devoid of substantial justice, and inspires flagrant disregard of the Electoral Act – Ahmed Lawal V. Bashir Machina is a classic example).
Many eligible voters are also abstaining from voting in a silent protest of the poor quality of candidates constantly churned out by political parties, and a declaration of lack of confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Illustratively, 80.82 per cent of the total results of the 2023 general elections were challenged in court. The current trajectory is “from ballots to the courts.”
Nigerians are frustrated by the consistently broken election campaign promises, unchecked security challenges, endemic corruption, food insecurity, inflation, absence of dividends of democracy, etc. These constitute the substance that the House of Representatives should address.
Voter apathy is a symptom of deep-seated issues which should not be sacrificed on the altar of a misconceived solution. Not only was the proposed law unconstitutional, but it also betrays the poor problem-solving skills of Nigerian parliamentarians.
The withdrawal of the bill is most instructive. Why should citizens bear the burden of fixing the dysfunctional electoral system? Why should they be criminally sanctioned for not engaging a process with a proven track record of repeated failures? The National Assembly should exercise its legitimate powers in birthing reforms that would inspire public trust and active participation in elections.
