There is this adage, “You may lead a horse to a pond but you can’t force it to drink water from it.” This is what Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives appears to be doing. It is debating a bill to compel Nigerians of voting age to vote during elections or be punished with a hefty fine or imprisonment (or both). 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 draft amendment legislation aims to improve voter turnout which has continued to drop election season after election season.
Introduced by House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas in February, the bill proposes a maximum of six months imprisonment or a fine of N100,000 for eligible Nigerians who fail to vote during elections. Presenting the bill recently during plenary, co-sponsor Daniel Asama said he believed compulsory voting would “deepen democracy, strengthen civic engagement, and reduce voter apathy.” According to him, “democracy thrives when citizens are actively engaged in the selection of their leaders and shaping the direction of governance.” He lamented Nigeria’s persistently low voter turnout, stating that it undermines electoral legitimacy and weakens democratic institutions. “Voting is not only a right but a civic responsibility. For global precedents, several democracies including Australia, Belgium and Brazil, have adopted mandatory voting for “positive outcomes in terms of political participation and public accountability. For electoral apathy and voter inducement, mandatory voting can significantly reduce the influence of vote buying as more citizens vote”, the lawmaker argued.
The sponsors of the bill are right to be concerned about the legitimacy of power obtained from a voter turnout as low as we have witnessed in recent national and state elections, even as low as 30% in some polls. The cause is that voters are becoming less and less enthusiastic to come out on polling day. One of the reasons that they have discovered that their votes don’t really count. They stand in the rain and scorching sun to cast their ballot only for politicians and election officers, conniving, to produce an outcome that doesn’t come out of the ballot box. The politicians know this and this is why they don’t go back to their constituents after the election because it isn’t their votes but money that give them ‘victory’. Once in power, impunity is the order of the day. Such power also guarantees the ‘legitimacy’ to steal from the till.
True, voter party demonstrates lack of faith in the electoral process and erodes the voter’s power as a pillar of democracy. It also denies a key stakeholder a major say in the process of choosing leaders. However, is forcing the voter to the ballot box the solution? Shouldn’t the search for one begin with the power hungry politician who is ready to buy votes or steal them and sometimes kill to get to power? He uses this power to enrich himself by defrauding the state and shortchanging the citizenry. It is these pauperized Nigerians that he wants compelled to continue to give their votes. But they are now saying no. Enough is enough. The voice of resistance is strident and loud. Catholic bishop Matthew Kukah captured this sense of disillusionment with these words: “To talk about compelling Nigerians, you are sitting in the House of Assembly… Are you going to sit in that comfort and preach to me? Preach about what? That I should go and vote for what?” His rhetorical questions highlighted the disconnect between those in power and the governed. He said politicians should “make politics noble and respectable”. Only when this happens would Nigerians feel motivated to participate willingly in elections.
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, thinks the proposed amendment is “an unnecessary and dangerous distraction” from the real problem with Nigeria’s democracy. He says criminalizing voter abstention violates fundamental human rights and misdiagnoses the problem of electoral apathy. “You don’t fix democracy by criminalizing dissent or forcing participation through fear of punishment,” he says. According to him, the bill fails to consider the systemic issues that have alienated citizens from the electoral process.
“Low voter turnout is not a product of laziness or irresponsibility, it’s the result of voter disillusionment. Nigerians are tired of a system that repeatedly fails to reflect their will,” he believes. “In Nigeria’s context, this bill will only deepen public mistrust and trigger further disengagement. … Rather than punishing the victims of a broken system, government should fix the system.” he insisted. Olisa Agbakoba, another rights lawyer, says, “If that bill were to pass, I would say, ‘Agbakoba, we will not obey it.’ I’ll plead conscientious objection. I’d rather go to prison for six months than to obey it.” He questions the rationale behind the bill, asking, “Why would the National Assembly want to impose compulsory voting? Why don’t they reverse the question and say, Why are Nigerians not interested? What is the apathy about? [It] is that they don’t get anything. If I know that I’m going to get something—there’s an aspiration, there’s an interest—you will find people coming out to vote. But then people see the same old trick. You come, you take my vote, you disappear till the next four years. There’ll be apathy.”
Opposition to the bill is gaining momentum as public awareness increases. To be sure, there will be many like Agbakoba. To expand the horse and water aphorism, millions of Nigerians will resist being forced to vote and willingly submit to imprisonment. Correction facility officials should be ready to take in millions of prisoners than they can accommodate and feed. Detention cells will be bursting at the seams and the risk of prison outbreak higher. The booths will be nearly empty on polling day and the legitimacy question will ring louder than before. This is what compulsory voting will do. Like it ?
