Nigeria’s politics have been plagued with a lot of controversies. One of them is the appearance of underage voters during elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently came under fire when many cases of underage voters were reportedly discovered on the voter’s register ahead of the 2023 general election.
Underage voters’ presence and usage have been part of Nigerian politics for a long time. Even the 2015 general election, deemed to be free and fair by election monitors and observers, was plagued with many ineligible kids who registered to obtain their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) to cast their votes. Even though the electoral umpire has said the newly introduced Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) may help identify these underaged voters on election day, the statement has not assured Nigerians ahead of the 2023 polls.
So, here is what we know about underage voters in Nigeria.
Who are underage voters?
Underage voters are minors who are not up to the stipulated age of a country to vote and be voted for, yet they get to vote during elections. The registration of underage voters is an infraction of electoral laws and the constitution of countries globally.
In Nigeria, the legal age for voting is 18 years. Therefore, any individual who is not up to 18 years and registers to vote has violated the 1999 constitution (as amended), which stipulates the voting age. It is also a big drawback to the nation’s democratic credentials and an abuse of the electoral process. These children are used as tools to inflate numbers and rig elections.
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Underage voters in Nigeria
INEC recently published the preliminary national register of voters in the 8,809 Registration Areas (wards) nationwide on its official website. The electoral umpire had asked Nigerians to verify their details and report errors. The prominent error that raised a big concern among the voting population was the presence of underage voters in INEC’s register.
Although INEC has pleaded with Nigerians to help the body identify these underage voters to help clean up the voter’s register, it, however, seems like the nation will probably witness another influx of this menace in the upcoming general election. Constitutionally, the voting age begins at 18 years but cases of children seen voting have been reported since the 1999 general elections.
Kano State, in particular, is known as a hotbed of underage voters. The 2018 local government election in the state witnessed not just the highest-ever voter apathy, but the participation of underage voters in some polling units. There were pictures and videos of children voting in some local government areas in the state, which sparked outrage among Nigerians.
Kano has the second-highest number of registered voters in Nigeria with over five million registered voters. Yet, the state is also notorious for registering underaged voters. Children are allowed to vote freely during elections. Attempts to stop them in previous elections have been met with belligerent stares and threats of violence by adult members of the communities.
Many have speculated that the underage voters are the members of the Almajiri, who do not understand what is going on and the implication of what they are doing. According to a publication on ThisDay, most of the Almajiri do not have voter’s cards, but they are involved in high-grade election manoeuvres, especially in local government areas where elections are conducted without the card reader.
Even law enforcement agents like the police often turn a blind eye instead of removing these children from the voting queue out of fear for their safety. Also, INEC officials never bother to question these children but register and allow them to vote, an action which contravenes the Constitution and Electoral Act.
Although President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that ballot snatchers should be shot on sight in the act during the 2023 elections, there has been total silence on the menace of underage voters in Nigeria.
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Effects of underage voters on Nigerian elections
Rigging elections
Underage voters are mostly registered for one purpose – to rig elections. Children as young as eight to fifteen years are registered to make rigging easy during elections. These children are used for thumb printing of ballots at voting centres to justify the number of votes cast.
To cover up voter apathy
Where there is voter apathy and people refuse to participate in voting for one reason or the other, children are used to filling up the numbers and creating a false impression that people participated in the election. Government agents and INEC officials often overlook the irregularities and allow for underage voting to meet up with figures that will justify the credibility of elections.
The result is the real voters are discouraged to go out and cast their votes. They often give up, believing that the person that is in power owns it all. So, the best they can do is to stay back and allow those in power to do whatever they want including registering underaged voters.
Infringement of voters’ rights
With the registration of underage voters, there is no need for real voters to cast their votes. Real registered voters are denied participation in voting and the underage are used to vote in their place by the party in power. The real voters are forcefully denied their voting right by politicians who utilise thugs and, in some cases, security agents, who drive them away from the voting centres because there are children available to vote in their place. Most of these children often do not understand what they are doing, even the adults that accompany them.
Election of bad, incompetent leaders
Since the purpose of using underage voters is to rig elections and inflate numbers to give the impression of a “massive turnout” of voters, the result is unsuitable people will be voted into prominent positions to oppress the people. For instance, northern Nigeria has arguably recorded the highest numbers of underage voters and the region is the least developed in Nigeria. This is because of the massive rigging of elections using underage voters, who then elect incompetent leaders to the helms of affairs.
How to tackle underage voters
- Citizens should be patriotic enough to ensure that children who are known in their communities do not participate in the election process until they come of age.
- Government, INEC and civil societies should embark on sensitising citizens to the importance of performing their civic duties by registering and voting during elections. This will reduce voter apathy, thus reducing underage voting.
- Law enforcement agencies should also be empowered to arrest underage persons at the point of voting. Those who flout the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act should be sanctioned and prosecuted.
- INEC should endeavour to recruit staff who they can easily hold accountable.
- In places where adult voters tend to unduly influence INEC registration (during the registration process) and election officials (on the day of elections), there should be more deployment of security agents, who will be neutral and protect the election officials from all sorts of manipulation.
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