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The Right to Vote in Nigeria: A Critical Commentary on the Open Ballot System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Epiphany Azinge
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Extract

The right to vote in Nigeria has a rather chequered history. Universal adult suffrage became a reality in Nigeria in the 1979 elections when women in the North were allowed for the first time to participate in elections. Originally the right to vote was thought of as a direct consequence of property interests rather than adhering to the person as a political right. It was only gradually that the vote was altered from a property and income right to a political right.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1994 , pp. 173 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1994

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References

1 Unlike the 1962 Electoral Act, the 1977 Electoral Decree did not classify female persons in Northern Nigeria as legally disqualified from voting.

2 Free and Fair Elections, n.p., n.d.

3 Patrick Boyer, Political Rights: The Legal Framework of Elections in Canada, 1981, n.p., 121. See also Lisco v. Love DC Cold, 219 F. Supp. 922.

4 376 US 17.

5 (1891) 21 OR 538 at 542.

6 Above, 86.

7 E.g. registration for election.

8 Reference to the Constitution in this article is restricted to the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria.

9 Decree No. 15 of 1989.

10 See s. 27 State Government (Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provisions) Decree No. 50 of 1991. See also National Assembly (Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provisions) Decree No. 18 of 1992.

11 See s. 71(2).

12 Kenneth Post, The Nigerian General Election, 1963, n.p., 171.

13 S. 1(3).

14 See O'Brien v. Skinner (1974) 94 S.Ct. 740Google Scholar, Coffin v. Reichard (1944) 143 F. 2d 443 (6th Cir)

15 Boyer, above, 168.

16 T. E. Smith, Sections in Developing Countries, n.p., n.d., 104.

17 See generally Kaiser, Gordon E., “The inmate as citizen: imprisonment and the loss of civil rights in Canada”, (1971) 1 Queens L.J. 208Google Scholar. See, however, the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform (British Columbia) 1978 Vol. III, 199.

18 S. 56 of Decree 15; s. 105 of Decree 50.

19 (1959) 20 E.L.R. 443.

20 See also R. v. Barnwell (1857) 29 L.T.O.S. 107Google Scholar; Waseham case (1857) 29 L.T.O.S. 346.Google Scholar

21 (1955) W.N.L.R. 134.

22 See also Kubeinje v. Edukugho (1955) W.N.L.R. 142. See, however, the points canvassed in Oyegun v. Lucky Igbinedion (1992) 2 N.W.L.R. (PT226) 747 C.A.

23 (1911) 6 O'M & H. 103. See also Stepney case (1886) 4 O'M & H. 34.

24 R.L.D. (1966) K. 312.

25 Ibid., 313, 314.

26 See s. 78 of Decree No. 15. See also s. 120 of Decree No. 50.

27 H. O. Davies, “A Case for Triarchy”, National Concord, 27 January, 1986.

28 Nwabueze, B. O., Military Rule and Constitutionalism, Lagos, 1992, 356–357.Google Scholar