The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, says the electoral body has concluded a policy on diaspora voting.
The Federal Government, in 2017, put the number of Nigerians in the diaspora at 17 million. However, many more citizens have since left for foreign countries in a wave commonly referred to as japa.
Addressing the recurrent issues around legalising diaspora voting, the INEC Chairman expressed hope that the legal obstacles preventing foreign-based Nigerians from voting will be cleared eventually.
Yakubu disclosed this while delivering a lecture at Chatham House in London on Tuesday afternoon on the topic ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Preparations and Priorities for Electoral Integrity and Inclusion’.
“We have actually completed the policy as far as the commission is concerned and we identified two categories of Nigerians living outside the country,” he said.
“We have the OCV (out-of-country) voting, mainly by service personnel and other Nigerians engaged in, say, foreign service, and those who are engaged in technical manpower.
“There is assistance organised by the Nigerian government for other countries, particularly in our sub-region. For now, they don’t vote. But the other leg of it is for Nigerians permanently resident outside Nigeria, that is, the diaspora voting.”
The INEC boss explained that the Commission worked with Nigerians in diaspora organisations within the United Kingdom and in the United States.
“We’re even happy that some constitutional amendments were submitted to the National Assembly.
“But eventually, they didn’t sail through in terms of the propositions forwarded to the state assemblies for concurrence before our constitution is amended,” he said.
According to Yakubu, the commission only acts in accordance with the electoral legal framework, which remains the main reason why it cannot implement diaspora voting at present, as much as its leadership would like to.
“Both the 1999 constitution and the 2022 Electoral Act provide that voters can only be registered and vote within the country.
“For instance, Section 77 Subsection 2 of the constitution says that every citizen of Nigeria must attain the age of 18 years old, residing in Nigeria at the time of the registration of voters for purposes of elections to a legislative house shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for that election.
“And there are other sections of the constitution that tie the eligibility to register and vote in executive elections – presidential and governorship – to the requirements of residency, as in the case of legislative elections,” he said.
Nigerian Voters 16.7m More Than Rest Of West Africa, Says INEC Chairman
The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said available data indicates that Nigeria has 16.7 million more voters than the rest of West Africa.
Yakubu made the revelation on Tuesday afternoon, while delivering a lecture at London-based Chatham House on the topic ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: Preparations and Priorities for Electoral Integrity and Inclusion’.
“Based on figures compiled from electoral commissions and interior ministries in West Africa, Nigeria’s current voter population is 16.7 million higher than the 76.7 million registered in all the other countries put together – and there are 14 other elections in the sub-region.
“This means that a general election in Nigeria is like conducting an election in the whole of West Africa and beyond,” he said.
He dismissed any speculation of plans to put off the elections scheduled for February 25th and March 11th, saying INEC is not contemplating let alone planning to postponing the 2023 general elections.
“We are going ahead to conduct the election as scheduled,” he said, adding that though there are “tremendous” challenges and expectations of INEC, the Commission was a beneficiary of “enormous” goodwill in Nigeria and beyond.
“We can surmount the challenges and ensure elections continue to get better,” the INEC chairman said.
Early choice of election technology management tools, especially the main election technology, is very critical for success, according to him.
“We know that political actors often try to undermine the process by attacking the technology, casting doubts on its suitability, bypassing its use or indeed seeking to undermine its security.
“This informed the early choice of a new voter accreditation technology, using an electronic device called Bimordal Voter Accreditation System,” he said.
Channels Television