By Ayo Kehinde
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has called the proposed bill to make voting mandatory in Nigeria unconstitutional.
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”, the proposed legislation is sponsored by House Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, and Daniel Asama, the member representing Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency of Plateau State.
The proposed legislation had passed second reading in the House of Representatives last Thursday. First introduced by Speaker Tajudeen in February, the bill proposes imposing a maximum of six months imprisonment or a fine of no more than N100,000 for Nigerians of voting age who fail to vote during elections.
But expressing opposition to the bill in a statement issued on Monday, Falana said the bill is “unconstitutional” and “impractical” under the current legal framework.
He said, “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.
“Since Section 14(2) of the Constitution provides for popular participation in the democratic process, compulsory voting may only be justified if Chapter II thereof is made justiciable.
“Nigerian courts have never considered Section 224, which states that ‘the programme, as well as the aims and objects of a political party, shall conform with the provisions of Chapter II of this Constitution.”
