•Olisa Agbakoba SAN
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa Agbakoba, has criticised the proposed bill seeking to make voting mandatory in Nigeria, declaring that he would rather be jailed than comply with such a law.
Speaking on Channels Television last night, Agbakoba condemned the National Assembly’s attempt to enforce compulsory voting, arguing that it fails to address the root causes of voter apathy in the country.
“Look at the ridiculous one in the National Assembly about voting being compulsory. If that bill were to pass, 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,” he said.
He questioned the rationale behind the bill, stating, “Why would the National Assembly want to impose compulsory voting? Why don’t they reverse the question and say, Why are Nigerians not interested? What is the apathy about?”
Exclusion, Unfulfilled Promises
Agbakoba maintained that voter disengagement stems from years of exclusion and unfulfilled political promises, not a lack of civic responsibility.
“The apathy is that they don’t get anything. If I know that I’m going to get something — there’s an aspiration, there’s an interest — you will find people coming out to vote. But then people see the same old trick. You come, you take my vote, you disappear till the next four years. There’ll be apathy,” he said.
According to the senior lawyer, exclusion is at the heart of Nigeria’s democratic failure.
“Right now, we have a big problem with having a system that excludes. I think you will find the biggest problem we have in Nigeria is around exclusion. That, I think, is the biggest problem—around exclusion. People are not taking part in the process,” he noted.
Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, he stated that he has noticed a troubling pattern, warning that democracy in Nigeria cannot succeed if it continues to serve only a select elite.
“Suddenly, you have a big issue of coalitions and defections. Why? I have not heard many politicians talk about people—about the welfare of Nigerians, about their suffering, about their inadequate opportunities. I have not heard that.
“All I hear politicians do is, every four years, they jump up; they become active. Once they get power, they disappear. So for all these reasons, I think we need to look for a new model,” Agbakoba stated.
Pressed on whether the real issue is the attractiveness of public office and the consistent failure of leadership, Agbakoba reiterated that Nigeria’s political failure is the core reason behind low voter turnout.
He said, “We’ve had some good leaders, I must confess. But generally speaking, the leadership quality has been very poor. And the leadership quality has not led Nigerians to where they want to be.
“That’s why I refer to the fact that we have voter apathy and disinterest. So, unless we ask ourselves and interrogate the issue behind this lack of interest in voting, we will not get it right.
“I can tell you that the reason why Nigerians are not interested is because they don’t see anything. You should take a trip around Nigeria. Lagos is not Nigeria, by the way, because some people who live here, like us, think that.”
Mandatory Voting Bill Faces Criticism
The contentious proposal—A Bill for an Act to Amend the Electoral Act, 2002— passed second reading in the House of Representatives. It seeks to mandate voting for all Nigerians of eligible age in national and state elections.
The bill is jointly sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Labour Party lawmaker Daniel Asama Ago. Ago argued during Thursday’s plenary that mandatory voting would curb voter apathy and reduce vote-buying, adding that countries like Australia have adopted similar measures successfully.
Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu also endorsed the bill, describing it as “a step in the right direction”.
However, the bill has attracted strong criticism, including from another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, who on Monday, described the move as both unconstitutional and impractical.
In a statement titled ‘Compulsory Voting Is Not Enough’, Falana said the proposed law contradicts provisions of the 1999 Constitution, which safeguard the rights to privacy, freedom of thought, and freedom of conscience.
He said, “It is doubtful whether the Speaker and his colleagues have paid sufficient attention to the relevant provisions of the Constitution. Otherwise, they would have realised that compulsory voting is constitutionally invalid in every material particular on the ground that it is inconsistent with Sections 37, 38, 77(2), 135(5), and 178(5) of the Constitution.”
He warned that compulsory voting, if enacted, would be unenforceable.
“Compulsory voting cannot be legalised in vacuo… It is practically impossible to prosecute millions of Nigerians who may decide to boycott national and local elections that have been reduced to the periodic renewal of misgovernance, corruption, and abuse of power,” he stated.
