{"id":65768,"date":"2025-05-15T17:18:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T17:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=65768"},"modified":"2025-05-16T03:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T03:54:13","slug":"reps-push-for-mandatory-voting-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/05\/15\/reps-push-for-mandatory-voting-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Reps Push to Make Voting Mandatory in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Samuel Adeola<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A move to compel all eligible Nigerians to vote is gaining ground in the National Assembly as the House of Representatives has passed a bill for second reading that would make voting a legal civic duty.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed legislation, jointly sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Representative Daniel Ago, seeks to address the country\u2019s alarming voter apathy.<\/p>\n<p>During the 2023 general elections, only 27 percent of registered voters participated, a figure that sparked concern among democratic advocates.<\/p>\n<p>According to Rep Ago, mandatory voting would promote civic responsibility much like tax compliance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we can pay taxes, we should also be required to choose our leaders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, not all lawmakers agree. Rep Mark Esset from Akwa Ibom cautioned that forcing citizens to vote without reforming the flawed electoral system would only compound frustrations.<\/p>\n<p>He highlighted persistent problems such as vote rigging, insecurity, and lack of trust in the electoral commission.<\/p>\n<p>Countries like Australia and Brazil have long implemented compulsory voting with fines for defaulters, but critics argue that such laws may infringe on personal freedom.<\/p>\n<p>The bill will now undergo further scrutiny as lawmakers engage with the electoral commission, legal experts, and civil society to explore enforcement strategies, penalties, and public acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>If enacted, the law would usher in one of the most dramatic shifts in Nigeria\u2019s democratic process since independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Samuel Adeola A move to compel all eligible Nigerians to vote is gaining ground in the National Assembly as the House of Representatives has passed a bill for second reading that would make voting a legal civic duty. The proposed legislation, jointly sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Representative Daniel Ago, seeks to address [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":65811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65827,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65768\/revisions\/65827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}