Voting rights in Nigeria

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Nigeria numbered by its states

The history of voting rights in Nigeria mirrors the complexity of the nation itself. [1]

Contents

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. [2] 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. [1] 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. Though there were intermittent republican governments, only four elections took place from 1966 to 1999. [3] The electoral process has differed within the many of governments of Nigeria's history and their corresponding constitutions.

Though women of the southern and eastern regions of the nation gained their voting rights in 1954, women of the northern region of Nigeria earned their right to vote in 1979. [4] The suffrage movement was headed by several groups such as the Women's Movement of Nigeria and the women's wing of the Action Group. [5] [6]

Currently, there is an ongoing struggle regarding the role of members of the diaspora in electoral processes. [7] Though several inroads have been made in the form of bills introduced in both the House and Senate, no concrete successes have been made. [8]

Milestones of national franchise changes

Colonial era

The right to vote has taken many forms in Nigeria's history. In the period from 1922 to 1950, [9] under which both the Clifford Constitution of 1922 and the Richards Constitution of 1946 were enacted, the right to vote for members of the legislative council was extended exclusively to residents of Lagos and Calabar in the south. [9] Under colonial Governor Hugh Clifford, indigenous Nigerians were first granted the right to elect their own representatives into the Legislative Council of the aforementioned municipalities. [2] This right, termed the elective principle, emphasized that 4 of the 36 members of the Legislative Council must be elected by the native population. [11] Though northerners were still not afforded the right to vote, with the enactment of the Richards Constitution, Nigeria was integrated under one general council with three regional councils in the north, west, and east. [9] Voting rights in Lagos and Calabar were limited by gender, nationality, residency, age, and income requirements. [9] The franchise was granted to those who were male, British subjects or natives of the Nigerian protectorate, residents of the Lagos or Calabar areas for at least a year, at least 21 years old, and generators of an income of at least £100 in the year prior to the election. [9] Under these provisions, only 3,000 of the population of 40,000 were qualified in Lagos, and only 1,000 of the population of 10,000 were qualified in Calabar. [11] Though elections took place in 1923, 1928, 1933, 1938, 1947, 1954, and 1959, under British colonial rule, suffrage was only extended to northern Nigerians in 1947. [3]

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. [11] 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. [11] 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. [12] 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. [12] Though the specific regulations were developed by the federal government, they were tailored to fit the idiosyncrasies of each region. [9] 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. This requirement was relaxed by 1954 in which only two regions, including Lagos at this point, had tax payment requirements for local elections. [9] Notably, in the western region, this requirement included women— a group who had earned suffrage in both the eastern and western regions that very year. [13] The respect for regional regulations in regard to voting rights contributed to the fact that in 1954, there was universal adult male suffrage in the Northern region, modified adult suffrage in the Western region and Lagos, and universal adult suffrage in the East. [9] Highlighting yet another example of inconsistent regional voting practices, the general elections of 1954 witnessed the usage of electoral colleges in the northern region and in the southern Cameroons. [11] In the northern region, the Northern House of Assembly Electoral Regulations of 1956 also granted the right to vote to male native foreigners, individuals defined as non-Nigerian persons whose parents are members of any African tribe. [9] The native foreigner was still subject to a residency requirement that necessitated the prospective voter to have lived in the district where they desired to vote for at least 5 years prior to the election. [9] For the election of members into state legislatures, distinct rules regarding suffrage were applied within each state exclusively. [9]

Independence movement and the First Nigerian Republic (1922-1966)

As the Nigerian government completed the transition to home rule and witnessed the fall of the First Republic of Nigeria in the period from 1958 to 1966, the Elections (House of Representatives) Regulations of 1958 stated that the electoral regulations developed by the federal legislature would apply to all states, thereby removing the confluence of specific and general regulations in federal elections and establishing the ascendancy of federal laws. [9] Despite this legislative action, the federal government retained its respect for regional voting rights in some capacities. [9] Namely, though these regulations granted universal adult suffrage in both the Eastern and Western regions, the federal legislature respected the local regulations that maintained adult male suffrage in the North. [9] The federal electoral regulations developed under the previous periods (with the notable exceptions of gender restrictions in some regions and taxation requirements in all regions) merged to form a generally unified approach to voting rights. [9] The distinction of regulations concerning state elections also remained. [9]

Second Nigerian Republic (1979-1983)

Under the Nigerian constitution of 1979, voting rights, or the right to register as a voter, were extended to all citizens of Nigeria who resided in Nigeria at the time of voter registration. [10] Though the previous general elections only involved the election of members into legislative bodies, the 1979 Constitution provided for the election of the President and Vice-President by those granted the ability to vote in legislative elections. [10]

Third Nigerian Republic (1992-1993)

The Nigerian constitution of 1993, which was intended to usher in democratic rule, was never fully implemented. [1]

Fourth Nigerian Republic (1999-)

Under the Nigerian constitution of 1999 and the Electoral Act of 2010, voting rights mirrored the provisions of the Second Nigerian Republic in which all citizens of Nigeria who resided in Nigeria at the time of voter registration were entitled to register as a voter. [10]

Minority rights

Women

Female suffrage was initially granted with regional specificity. [9] In the Igbo-dominated eastern region and the Yoruba-dominated western region, women were allowed the right to vote in 1954. [9] Though the Elections (House of Representatives) Regulations of 1958 standardized the federal distribution of voting rights across the nation, women in the northern region remained unable to vote until the late 70s. [9] Universal suffrage was achieved finally in 1979 when women in northern states were granted the right to vote. [1]

Nigeria was engaged involved in a broader West African debate about the role of women in electoral processes. [14] Under pressure from parties such as the Women's Movement of Nigeria (WM) and the women wing of the Action Group (AG), British government and Nigerian underwent a series of constitutional conferences in order to ascertain the methods through which elections would be framed post-British colonization. [14] The Lyttelton Constitution of 1954 afforded tax-paying Southern Nigerian women the right to vote and to be elected.[ citation needed ] However, due to the fact that many women did not pay taxes, the female electoral base was extremely limited. [9] The WM, notably including its president Elizabeth Adekogbe, argued for universal suffrage excluding the tax requirement in order to expand the number of women able to contribute to the electoral process by voting or running for office. [14] Only after the military coups of 1966-1978 was true universal suffrage granted under the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria. [10]

Under the Electoral Act of 1982, those who are subject to legal incapacity to and are therefore not qualified to vote include individuals who pledge “allegiance, obedience, or adherence” to another nation, those who are subject to a death sentence or imprisonment for a term longer than six months and have not suffered the punishment or received a free pardon by the time of election, and those who have been disqualified under the act for other electoral offenses. [15] The Chairman, other members of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), the Chief Federal Electoral Officer, Assistant Chief Federal Electoral Officers, electoral officers, assistant electoral officers, the returning officer and the assistant returning officer for each constituency, and the presiding officer are also not qualified to vote under this act. [15]

The Electoral Act of 2010 similarly cites the fact that those who are subject to legal incapacities “under any law, rule, or regulation in force” in Nigeria are not entitled to vote. [16]

Diaspora voting

Historically, Nigerian members of the African diaspora have not been afforded the right to vote. [7] Though previously stripped of their citizenship rights, in 1997, the federal government granted dual citizenship rights to Nigerian emigrants. [7] Following the adoption of the Representation of the People Amendment Act (ROPAA) of Ghana in 1992, many Nigerian diaspora organizations argued for similar provisions in their ability to contribute to electoral processes. [7] In 2005, the PDP Party held a public hearing regarding the extension of voting rights to members of the diaspora in Houston— the home of the largest population of Nigerian immigrants in the United States. [8] Though the emigrants in attendance expressed support for diaspora voting rights, the diaspora bill introduced in 2005 did not advance past the first reading in the National Assembly until 2007. [8] In 2012, Abike Dabiri-Erewa led the proposal of a bill in Nigeria’s Federal House of Representatives that would grant voting rights in the form of absentee voting for Nigerians abroad. [7] Though the bill did not pass, it would have amended the Electoral Act 2010 by providing for offices of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) abroad and extending Section 12(1)(c) to include Nigerians in Diaspora as opposed to including only Nigerians residing in Nigeria. [8]

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. I remain very optimistic that in the not-too-distant future, it should be possible for Nigerians in the diaspora to participate in our national elections." [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suffrage</span> Right to vote in public and political elections

Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums. In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vote is called active suffrage, as distinct from passive suffrage, which is the right to stand for election. The combination of active and passive suffrage is sometimes called full suffrage.

Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. At the beginning of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vote, increasing the number of those parties' potential constituencies. National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts towards women voting, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance.

Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the "one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion of the young and non-citizens. At the same time, some insist that more inclusion is needed before suffrage can be truly universal. Democratic theorists, especially those hoping to achieve more universal suffrage, support presumptive inclusion, where the legal system would protect the voting rights of all subjects unless the government can clearly prove that disenfranchisement is necessary. Universal full suffrage includes both the right to vote, also called active suffrage, and the right to be elected, also called passive suffrage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voting rights in the United States</span>

Voting rights, specifically enfranchisement and disenfranchisement of different groups, have been a moral and political issue throughout United States history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of women's suffrage</span>

Women's suffrage – the right of women to vote – has been achieved at various times in countries throughout the world. In many nations, women's suffrage was granted before universal suffrage, in which cases women and men from certain socioeconomic classes or races were still unable to vote. Some countries granted suffrage to both sexes at the same time. This timeline lists years when women's suffrage was enacted. Some countries are listed more than once, as the right was extended to more women according to age, land ownership, etc. In many cases, the first voting took place in a subsequent year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902</span> Australian suffrage law

The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902(Cth) was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which set out who was entitled to vote in Australian federal elections. The Act established, in time for the 1903 Australian federal election, suffrage for federal elections for those who were British subjects over 21 years of age who had lived in Australia for six months. The Act excluded natives of Australia, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands (other than New Zealand) from the federal franchise, unless they were already enrolled to vote in an Australian state. The Act gave Australian women the right to vote and stand for parliament at the federal level unless they fell into one of the categories of people excluded from the franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918</span> Australian suffrage law

The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 is an Act of the Australian Parliament which continues to be the core legislation governing the conduct of elections in Australia, having been amended on numerous occasions since 1918. The Act was introduced by the Nationalist Party of Billy Hughes, the main purpose of which was to replace first-past-the-post voting with instant-runoff voting for the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Labor Party opposed the introduction of preferential voting. The Act has been amended on several occasions since.

<i>R v Pearson; Ex parte Sipka</i> Judgement of the High Court of Australia

R v Pearson; Ex parte Sipka, was a landmark Australian court case decided in the High Court of Australia on 24 February 1983. It concerned section 41 of the Australian Constitution, and the question of whether four people eligible to vote in New South Wales could be prevented from voting at the federal level by a federal law which closed registration to vote on the day that the writs of election were issued. The court decided that they could, adopting a narrow interpretation of section 41, and therefore finding that there is no express constitutional right to vote in Australia.

Non-citizen suffrage is the extension of the right to vote (suffrage) to non-citizens. This right varies widely by place in terms of which non-citizens are allowed to vote and in which elections, though there has been a trend over the last 30 years to enfranchise more non-citizens, especially in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of voting in New Zealand</span> Aspect of political history

Voting in New Zealand was introduced after colonisation by British settlers. The first New Zealand Constitution Act was passed in 1852, and the first parliamentary elections were held the following year.

The voting rights of Indigenous Australians became an issue from the mid-19th century, when responsible government was being granted to Britain's Australian colonies, and suffrage qualifications were being debated. The resolution of universal rights progressed into the mid-20th century.

Black suffrage refers to black people's right to vote and has long been an issue in countries established under conditions of black minorities as well as, in some cases black majorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United Kingdom</span>

There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's suffrage in Australia</span>

Women's suffrage in Australia was one of the early achievements of Australian democracy. Following the progressive establishment of male suffrage in the Australian colonies from the 1840s to the 1890s, an organised push for women's enfranchisement gathered momentum from the 1880s, and began to be legislated from the 1890s. South Australian women achieved the right to vote and to stand for office in 1895, following the world first Constitutional Amendment Act 1894 which gained royal assent the following year. This preceded even universal male suffrage in Tasmania. Western Australia granted women the right to vote from 1899, although with racial restrictions. In 1902, the newly established Australian Parliament passed the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which gave women equal voting rights to men and the right to stand for federal parliament. By 1908, the remaining Australian states had legislated for women's suffrage for state elections. Grace Benny was elected as the first female local government councillor in 1919, Edith Cowan the first state Parliamentarian in 1921, Dorothy Tangney the first Senator and Enid Lyons the first Member of the House of Representatives in 1943.

Suffrage in Australia is the voting rights in the Commonwealth of Australia, its six component states and territories, and local governments. The colonies of Australia began to grant universal male suffrage from 1856, with women's suffrage on equal terms following between the 1890s and 1900s. Some jurisdictions introduced racial restrictions on voting from 1885, and by 1902 most Australian residents who were not of European descent were explicitly or effectively excluded from voting and standing for office, including at the Federal level. Such restrictions had been removed by 1966. Today, the right to vote at all levels of government is held by citizens of Australia over the age of 18 years, excluding some prisoners and people "of unsound mind".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1923 Nigerian general election</span>

General elections were held in Nigeria for the first time on 20 September 1923. The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) won three of the four elected seats in the Legislative Council.

This is a timeline of voting rights in the United States, documenting when various groups in the country gained the right to vote or were disenfranchised.

The Women's suffrage movement in India fought for Indian women's right to political enfranchisement in Colonial India under British rule. Beyond suffrage, the movement was fighting for women's right to stand for and hold office during the colonial era. In 1918, when Britain granted limited suffrage to women property holders, the law did not apply to British citizens in other parts of the Empire. Despite petitions presented by women and men to the British commissions sent to evaluate Indian voting regulations, women's demands were ignored in the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. In 1919, impassioned pleas and reports indicating support for women to have the vote were presented by suffragists to the India Office and before the Joint Select Committee of the House of Lords and Commons, who were meeting to finalize the electoral regulation reforms of the Southborough Franchise Committee. Though they were not granted voting rights, nor the right to stand in elections, the Government of India Act 1919 allowed Provincial Councils to determine if women could vote, provided they met stringent property, income, or educational levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black suffrage in the United States</span>

African Americans were fully enfranchised in practice throughout the United States by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prior to the Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, some Black people in the United States had the right to vote, but this right was often abridged or taken away. After 1870, Black people were theoretically equal before the law, but in the period between the end of Reconstruction era and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 this was frequently infringed in practice.

<i>Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894</i> Act of the Parliament of South Australia

The Constitutional Amendment Act 1894 was an Act of the Parliament of South Australia to amend the South Australian Constitution Act 1856 to include women's suffrage. It was the seventh attempt to introduce voting rights for women and received widespread public support including the largest petition ever presented to the South Australian parliament. The proposed legislation was amended during debate to include the right of women to stand for parliament after an opponent miscalculated that such a provision would cause the bill to be defeated. Once passed, South Australia become the fourth state in the world to give women the vote and the first to give women the right to be elected to parliament.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Azinge, Epiphany (1994). "The Right to Vote in Nigeria: A Critical Commentary on the Open Ballot System". Journal of African Law. 38 (2): 173–180. doi:10.1017/s0021855300005507. ISSN   0021-8553. S2CID   144014239.
  2. 1 2 Tamuno, Takena (1967). "Governor Clifford and Representative Government". Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. 4 (1): 117–124. JSTOR   41971203 – via JSTOR.
  3. 1 2 Arowosegbe, Jeremiah O. (2020-09-09). "Academics and Election Administration in Nigeria". Journal of International Development. 32 (7): 1009–1032. doi:10.1002/jid.3506. ISSN   0954-1748. S2CID   225282261.
  4. ↑ Azinge, Epiphany (October 1994). "The Right to Vote in Nigeria: A Critical Commentary on the Open Ballot System". Journal of African Law. 38 (2): 173–180. doi:10.1017/S0021855300005507. ISSN   1464-3731.
  5. ↑ Awosika, Tomisin (2022-05-12). "Elizabeth Adekogbe and the Women's Movement of Nigeria". The Republic. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  6. ↑ "Voting Rights: The Journey of Nigeria's Women - Crater Library & Publisher". thecraterlibrary.com. 2020-04-07. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Iheduru, Okechukwu C. (2011). "African states, global migration, and transformations in citizenship politics". Citizenship Studies. 15 (2): 181–203. doi:10.1080/13621025.2011.549707. ISSN   1362-1025. S2CID   145242613.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Ogbonnaya, Ufiem Maurice (2013). ,scrollChunk:!n,searchQuery:,searchSortBy:RELEVANCE,tab:search)) "Absentee Voting Rights: The Case of Nigeria". Canadian Parliamentary Review. 36: 20–22.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Ayoade, John A. A. (1980). "Electoral Laws and National Unity in Nigeria". African Studies Review. 23 (2): 39–50. doi:10.2307/523440. ISSN   0002-0206. JSTOR   523440. S2CID   144925042.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1979, Chapter V, Part 1, Section D.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Election Administration and Perception of Credible Results in Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis of 2003-2007 and 2011-2015 Elections by Abdulazeez Alao Adekola.
  12. 1 2 Falola, Toyin (2004). Economic Reforms and Modernization in Nigeria, 1945-1965. Kent State University Press. p. 35.
  13. ↑ Fadiran, David (2017). "Measurement and Evolution of Institutions in Nigeria". Journal of Development Perspectives. 1 (1–2): 1–27. doi:10.5325/jdevepers.1.1-2.0001. JSTOR   10.5325/jdevepers.1.1-2.0001 – via JSTOR.
  14. 1 2 3 Panata, Sara (2016). "Campaigning for political rights in Nigeria: the Women Movement in the 1950s". Clio. Women, Gender, History . 43 (1): 175–185.
  15. 1 2 Electoral Act 1982, Part 1, Section 1.
  16. ↑ Electoral Act of 2010, Part 3, Section 12.
  17. ↑ Uchechukwu, Oghenekevwe (8 May 2021). "Nigeria not yet ready for diaspora voting – Minister". ICIR Nigeria. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
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