The right to vote has taken many forms in Nigeria's history.
The conduct of regular elections and the guarantee of the fundamental rights of citizens lie at the fulcrum of democracy.
One of the major problems with Nigeria’s democracy is the absence of a cast-iron protection of the right to vote.
The right to vote, though an inextricable part of democracy, is not enshrined in chapter IV of the Nigerian 1999 constitution, alongside the other fundamental rights.
A functioning democratic system of governance must provide an avenue for the larger part of society to take part in choosing political leaders.
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The right to vote has its roots embedded in the social contract theory, and it can be argued that this is probably the most important right of all.
This is because government is legitimately formed only after citizens have gone to the ballot to choose.
The right to vote is the foundation upon which this participatory right rests.
To be truly part of a given society, members must have an inalienable right to participate in the good governance of that society.
Chapter IV of the Nigerian constitution guarantees a list of fundamental rights which are enforceable in the courts.
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However, the omission of the right to vote under chapter IV renders this right unenforceable in a strict legal sense.
The absence of a guarantee for the right to vote allows for the abuse of this right by the state.
One of the attributes of rights under chapter IV of the Nigerian constitution is that they are open to legal redress, allowing individuals whose fundamental rights have been encroached upon to seek their legal enforcement.
With no provisions for the right to vote under the chapter IV of the constitution, there exist no form of legal redress for citizens.
Also, there has been no concrete plan to solve the recurring problems encountered during the registration of eligible voters and collection of voters’ cards.
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Moreover, electoral malpractices and willful disregard for the provisions of the electoral act have become notable features of the political climate in Nigeria.
Election season in Nigeria are often marred by acts of disorder and lawlessness, which act as barriers to citizens’ participation.
Most citizens generally view election days as public holidays and stay in the safety of their homes away from voting centres.
With the myriad electoral malpractices including voter intimidation, ballot box snatching and vote buying, the feeling among many citizens is that their vote is inconsequential.
As a result, turnout during elections is on the decrease.
About 43% of registered voters participated in the 2015 general election compared to 57% in the 2007 elections.
This constitutional reality of voting as less than a fundamental right contributes to government’s ineptitude, manifested for example in the inadequate logistical provisions for voter registration.
Without any clear avenue for redress, citizens have no way to hold the government accountable for failing to perform its duty with regards to enabling citizens to vote.
With the youth making up more than half of the Nigeria’s 182 million population, they play a vital role in the electoral process.
Before the 2015 election, the youths comprised about 63% of the eligible voting population.
However, the influence of the youth in governance before, during and after elections remains marginal.
With youth unemployment standing at 33.10% as at 2017, most Nigerian youths are caught up in the daily struggle for survival and view political participation as secondary.
The system operated by most political parties in Nigeria fails to provide much needed opportunity for youth participation in politics.
Moreover, one of the ways that political parties continue to stifle youth participation is through the high cost of nomination forms for political office.
As the 2019 general elections approaches, the general tendency for government is to focus on winning at the polls.
However, one duty that remains sacrosanct is for the government to ensure successful conduct of the polls in a free and fair manner.
In the bid to achieve this, the right of every citizen of voting age to vote should be protected and guaranteed by the state, preferably in the chapter IV of the constitution alongside the other fundamental rights.
The right to vote is recognized under Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right (UDHR).
Article 21(3) which states that: “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.
The right to vote in Nigeria has a rather chequered history.
Universal adult suffrage became a reality in Nigeria in the 1979 elections when women in the North were allowed for the first time to participate in elections.
Originally the right to vote was thought of as a direct consequence of property interests rather than adhering to the person as a political right.
It was only gradually that the vote was altered from a property and income right to a political right.
Beginning within the country's colonial period, elections in Nigeria began in 1923 by the direction of British colonial administrator Hugh Clifford through a legislative act known as the Clifford Constitution.
However, reflecting the variety of people groups and distinctive cultures confined with the nation's borders, the ethnolinguistic groups and colonial authorities that dominated the northern, eastern, and western regions of Nigeria (namely, the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba people respectively) often offered vastly different perceptions into suffrage qualifications-notably including differences in gender, nationality, residency, age, tax, and income requirements-in Nigeria's early years.
Though the qualifications that assured voting rights eventually became standardized under the Federal Constitution of Nigeria of 1960, just as quickly as voting rights were clarified, they were wholly revoked at the onset of several military coups beginning in 1966 and lasting until 1999.
In the period from 1950 to 1958, regionally specific and general voting qualifications of federal elections cohabited the political space due to the inapplicability of many general qualifications.
The Macpherson Constitution enacted under colonial Governor John Macpherson in 1951 extended the elective principle of the Clifford Constitution in its provisions for a House of Representatives and Regional House of Assembly for the northern, western, and eastern regions.
The Lyttleton Constitution of 1954 enacted under colonial Governor Oliver Lyttleton granted more power to each region by transforming Nigeria's formerly unitary system into a federal system.
Nevertheless, in voting for the members required to fill the allotted number of seats, particular provisions guided the voting process and suffrage in each region.
Though the specific regulations were developed by the federal government, they were tailored to fit the idiosyncrasies of each region.
For example, in all regions except for Lagos circa 1951, all prospective voters needed to have paid taxes somewhere in Nigeria within a year of the election.
In 2021, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubairu Dada reiterated the Government's intent to enact diaspora voting, albeit not in time for the 2023 Nigerian general election, saying "The National Assembly is working closely with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fashion a way to actualise diaspora voting.
The 2023 Elections and the Future of Human Rights and Democracy in Nigeria
Regional Variations in Women’s Suffrage
The implementation of women’s suffrage rights varied significantly across Nigeria’s regions.
- Eastern Region
Women in the Eastern Region gained the right to vote in 1951, with the first female voters participating in the 1951 regional elections.
This region, dominated by Igbo communities with traditions of women’s participation in governance, was most progressive regarding women’s political rights.
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