BY AUGUSTINE AVWODE, MAYOWA SAMUEL AND BRIGHT JACOB
The call for Nigerians in the Diaspora to be allowed to participate in the process of electing their leaders back home, especially, the President is not new. Proponents of Diaspora Voting, as it is called, had argued that since the Nigerian Diaspora community contributes immensely to the economic growth of the country through remittances back home, and the fact that they remain stakeholders for life, it was only proper to allow them to be part of the electoral procedure through appropriate legislations.
Not long ago, there was a flicker of hope as the presidency and the Independent National Electoral Commission agreed to marshal out a policy framework for it whenever the legal encumbrances are eventually removed.
At a meeting between INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in Abuja, not too long ago, the INEC chairman revealed that the commission had long begun the process of developing guidelines, regulations and policy in anticipation of an amendment to the legal framework to enable give Nigerians in the Diaspora opportunity to vote.
Yakubu had said, “The problem basically is the legal environment, election is a legal process but we made submissions to the National Assembly for constitutional and legal amendments to make Diaspora voting happen. But unfortunately, it’s not part of what the NASS submitted in the case of constitution amendment to the states for concurrence.
“Working with you, I’m sure we will be able to push for the relevant amendments to the existing laws. Specifically, there are two areas in the law where we think amendment is necessary; the first one is Section 77(2) of the constitution which restricts registration and voting to persons residing in Nigeria. So, in other words, Nigerian citizens residing outside the country cannot vote.
“But there is also section 134(2) which talks about the threshold for declaration particularly for presidential elections, majority of votes and then the spread a quarter of the votes in two-third of the states. So will Diaspora constitute another state or what will Diaspora constitute for the purpose of presidential election, this will also have to be looked into.”
“When people talk about Diaspora voting, they talk about people living in the United States and United Kingdom only. But those in Chad, those in Benin Republic, those in South Sudan are included as people in the Diaspora”
Dabiri-Erewa had told the INEC boss that major reason of her visit to him was to be able to find a suitable answer to the question often posed to her by Nigeria Diasporans of their status to vote.
“Everywhere we go, it’s about Diaspora voting. Nigerians in Diaspora are very eager to vote. We are talking about a group of people who this year alone, remitted $22 billon to the Nigerian economy, we are talking about a group of professionals who wherever they go, are contributing to the development and progress of their country, Nigeria,” she said.
Spokesman of INEC, Festus Okoye, recently told The Point, that much as the electoral umpire wished to have Nigerians in the Diaspora participate in election back home, INEC’s hands are tied.
He took time to explain in details, what the major constraints are. According to him, “the processes and procedures of the commission are regulated by law. If you look at Section 49 of the Electoral Act, it says that any person intending to vote with the voter’s card shall present himself to a presiding officer at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered in the voters’ register. The presiding officer, on being satisfied that the name of the person is on the register of voters, issues him a ballot paper, and also indicates on the register that the person has voted.
“So, the implication is that before you can vote in any election, you must be a registered voter. Secondly, you must also present yourself to a registration officer during the election. Now, the second implication is that if you also look at both the legal and constitutional frameworks for the registration of voters, it provides that any individual who wants to register as a voter must go personally, no proxy registration, to a registration centre, and register. Those are basically the requirements of section 10, for instance, of the Electoral Act. Thus, unless some of those sections of the law are amended, it will be next to impossibility to do Diaspora voting, and that is at one level.”
But that is not all and Okoye took time out to add other impediments that will make Diaspora Voting a pipe dream for now.
“At the second level is the fact that for Diaspora voting to happen, we must have a valid registration of Nigerians who are outside the country.
Now, when people talk about Diaspora voting, they talk about people living in the United States and United Kingdom only. But those in Chad, those in Benin Republic, those in South Sudan are included as people in the Diaspora. So, the mechanism must be worked out very clearly, and if they also have to vote, the implication is that they have to also establish polling units in the embassies of the different countries where Nigerians are, or alternatively, when we begin internet voting, people can now vote wherever they reside.”
Former presidential aspirant and presidential aide on women affairs, Sarah Jibril, told The Point that she had been a champion of Diaspora Voting. She argued that it was their right to vote and the government must do the needful to enable them vote.
“I am one of the frontline promoters of Diaspora Voting even before I was S.A. And while I was S.A, I told them the formula, how they were going to do it. Any civilised country will know that whether you are in Nigeria or outside, you have your roots, except you denounce and have another country’s passport or identity but as long as they are from Nigeria, they have the right and government has the responsibility to facilitate their participation in the country’s elections because they will come back home into the country and even if they are not here, their relatives, children and country that they claim is still here.”
Continuing, Jibril argued that as long as Nigeria finds it convenient to avoid doing the right thing, so long shall the country remain backward.
“It is human beings that will organise the Diaspora Voting. But if we choose not to be honest in politics and if we continue that way, then we are not ready to grow. Our philosophy in this country is so empty. Did we go to school so that we can defraud one another? It’s the lack of discipline of our conscience; it’s the lack of the fear of God. It’s an expression of lack of sense of patriotic responsibility. People are not willing to transform their minds into open, concrete and transparent truth. We have many people trained in Information Technology but we should be ashamed of ourselves. Billions of Naira are being transferred through the POS, so what is the argument? Is this the example we are going to show the world?
“Jibril argued that as long as Nigeria finds it convenient to avoid doing the right thing, so long shall the country remain backward”
Martin Onovo, 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party who is also Head, Policy Positions, Movement for Fundamental Change, told The Point that much as it was desirable time was not appropriate for it. He insisted that the priority for now should be how to evolve free, fair and credible elections.
“Diaspora voting is desirable but may not be appropriate yet. It will increase election costs and complications. It can be tried in the future after we have improved our conduct of elections.
“Nigerians live in about 200 different countries of the world. Diaspora voting will require election officials and voting materials in all these countries. Investing such colossal funds in elections will cost the Nigerian economy too much.
“As it is, the immediate priority should be to ensure that elections are free, fair, transparent and therefore credible.
“We must remember the forthrightness of President Yar’Adua when he confessed that the election that brought him to power was flawed. We must ensure that future elections are not flawed. The 2015 and 2019 elections were charades.
“The priority for now should be to get the conduct of our elections right and not to complicate elections with Diaspora voting.”
Delta State born Integrated Development Economist and chieftain of the PDP, Anthony Okonkwo, whole heartedly welcomed the idea but with a caveat.
He told The Point that, “It’s a good idea and falls in line with what obtains in modern societies. However remember that it will best be harnessed through digital voting as we are not sophisticated enough for mail-in ballots at this stage of our democracy.
“Besides, Nigerians for the first time are going to adopt a voting process that inputs electronic voting and transmission of results in the next presidential election. Let’s go through with it, test it and reap the benefits. Once we have a strong footing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with the Nigerian Foreign Service would be able to register all Nigerians who are holders of the Nigerian passport domiciled abroad as well as determine how those who hold dual citizenship can also be allowed to participate. Nobody should be disenfranchised,” he said.
Taofeek Gani, lawyer and Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, expressed concern about the proclivity to rig elections in the country as a major concern.
He argued that while every Nigerian of adult age should be able to vote, the fear is the result of the votes cast. He maintained that it would be manipulated by the party in power.
“Ordinarily, every Nigerian wherever they are should be able to exercise their civic responsibility, one of such is to be able to vote for the leader of his choice for his country, but my own fear is that I don’t think we are being fair and trust-worthy enough in this democracy because if we conduct election within our wards, we still see votes being manipulated. When we even know that there are only 50 people in this community but then they will announce votes of up to 200, how are we going to be able to put credibility in that opportunity for the people in the Diaspora to vote? That is the concern. That might just be the only opportunity that a ruling party does no matter whether it is APC or PDP at this time, it is looking for opportunity to rig elections.
“The only reason why anybody will be talking about Diaspora Voting now is simply because they want to use it to rig elections, not because they have the interests of these persons at heart. We are in support of Diaspora Voting if it can be regulated, well monitored and credible.”
As for the chairman of the Socialist Party of Nigeria, Abbey Bangboye, “Diaspora voting is something that we welcome because it will make our elections more participatory. Many Nigerians outside the country today were forced to escape because of the bad economic situation which is as a result of the failure of our political leaders to ensure that the resources at the country’s disposal are used for the overall interest of everybody and many of these people, despite being outside the shores of this country, they are also still interested in a Nigeria that will work for Nigerians.”
He however, queried the efforts being made at home to ensure greater participation by Nigerians at home before the cry for Diaspora Voting.
“Beyond that, charity begins at home. Those making the laws for those in Diaspora to make our elections more participatory, you will ask them that how much are they doing to ensure that even those in Nigeria even participate in the election? Because before you start talking about those in the Diaspora, what have you done to inspire the Nigerians at home, motivate them to participate in the election? That to me should be the focus and priority of whether the National Assembly or INEC before talking of Diaspora Voting. It’s like placing a cart before the horse.”
He said when the ruling elites are enthusiastic about a project; it means it has something that will benefit them.
“When the Nigerian ruling class is enthusiastic about something, you should know that it is something that is going to offer members opportunity to take an undue advantage of the masses. There are more problems that deserve urgent solution than that. That is why it is suspicious that it could be a ploy to carry out manipulative activity in the course of the election because right now, you know there is no register for the number of Nigerians in diaspora, you don’t know who voted. Even the one we have here, where they will have a seemingly knowledge of the number of electorates, yet they still give us different kinds of manipulative figures. That is why one is being skeptical that this move could also be a move to carry out all forms of manipulations and electoral malpractices come 2023 general elections.”
He said the recent disagreement over electronic transfer of results by INEC was indicative of the level of distrust that exists among the different segment of the Nigerian society.
“The fears expressed recently over electronic transfer of results before the Senate saw reasons to give INEC the green light, shows the level of distrust in the country and it reflects the level of our backwardness because we must be very sincere to ourselves that there are many places in the country that they don’t even know what is electricity, let alone telephone or internet and these people also participate in the election, as a matter of fact, they are the ones that the ruling class often use to declare big votes in the period of the election. So, if you are now saying that there should be electronic transmission of results in that kind of area, we are just making a mess of ourselves. But, be that as it may, I don’t think that can apply, especially when it comes to the Diaspora Voting because those in advanced countries are even more scientifically advanced than those of us in Nigeria. Ordinarily, if we are open and don’t have any skeleton in our cupboard, all of these things shouldn’t be a long debate. The fact that some people are opposing electoral transmission of results, even in the South here, where there is relatively more access to internet, electricity and the rest, shows that many of our politicians have so many skeletons in their cupboard.
While the debate continues, here is one good policy that timing and legislative encumbrances have combined to hold down. The question begging for answer is will Nigeria open a new chapter in her democratic experience in 2023 by giving Nigerians in the Diaspora a chance to vote or not?
