Victor EzejaHuman rights lawyer Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has kicked against the move by the National Assembly to pass a legislation that will criminalise voter apathy in Nigeria.
Agbakoba said that he would rather be jailed than obey a law that would mandate everyone in Nigeria to vote.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa reports that the House of Representatives recently initiated a bill seeking to make it compulsory for every eligible Nigerians to vote on all national and state elections.
The bill, which is jointly sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and Daniel Asama Ago, a Labour Party lawmaker, has scaled second reading.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday, Agbakoba said the National Assembly’s plan to make voting mandatory is out of place. According to him, it doesn’t deal with the real reasons people don’t care about voting in the country.
He said: “Look at the ridiculous one in the National Assembly about voting being compulsory. If that bill were to be passed, 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.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria queried why the National Assembly would want to impose compulsory voting on the citizens. He said they should reverse the question to say, “Why are Nigerians not interested? What is the apathy about? The apathy is because they don’t get anything. ”
According to him, voter disenchantment comes from years of exclusion and unfulfilled political promises, not a lack of civic duty, adding that exclusion is at the heart of Nigeria’s democratic failure.
The human rights lawyer stated that, looking at the outcome of governance in the last 25 years, during which Nigeria has had uninterrupted democracy, there is a need to adopt a new model. According to him, it seems that the Western model of democracy is not working in the country.
He mentioned China, the United Arab Emirates and some other countries that are not practicing democracy yet are successful in terms of delivering dividends of good governance to the people.
The senior lawyer observed that with the trend of things in the government, it cannot work if it continues to serve only a select elite.
When asked whether the real problem is the attractiveness of public office and the consistent failure of leadership, Agbakoba, a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) reiterated that Nigeria’s political failure is the core reason behind low voter turnout.
READ ALSO: Why Democracy Is Dying In Nigeria – Utomi
“Generally speaking, the leadership quality has been very poor. And the leadership has not led Nigerians to where it wants to be and that’s why I referred to the fact there is voter apathy,” he stated.
He insisted that if the authorities fail to probe why there is a lack of interest in voting by the Nigerian electorate, they would not get it right.
“The people are not interested in voting because they are not getting anything in return from the government.
READ ALSO: Good Governance Isn’t Rocket Science
He further observed that there is a significant level of inequality in the country and warned that it causes tension and division.
He added that the level of impoverishment of the people makes it easy for politicians to buy vote. He called for adoption of a system that includes everybody.
While emphasising the need for restructuring the governance system, the NBA president urged the country to emulate the Catholic Church’s federal structure, characterised by decentralised administration.
This, he said, would unburden the federal government and give more responsibilities to state governments for efficiency.
He also stressed the need for having a vibrant opposition to strengthen democracy in the country.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
