"Diaspora Voting Rights Bill (DVRB)"
ACHO ORABUCHI
Dallas, Texas
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Diaspora Voting Rights Bill is a bill long past due on the minds of most Nigerians living overseas. Nigerians in the Diaspora would want to be allowed to register and vote in elections in Nigeria, especially in the gubernatorial and presidential elections.
Interestingly, many countries, including Switzerland, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Columbia, Mexico, United States, Great Britain, and others, have voting right laws that allow their citizens living abroad to register and vote in their native countries’ elections. For the most part, these countries allow their citizens to cast their votes in their respective embassies and consulates. In some cases, some of these countries are utilizing E-Voting to facilitate the participation of their citizens in their national elections.
Some
countries have found it necessary to expand the participation of their citizens
living abroad in their national elections. In addition to granting their
citizens living overseas the right to vote in their national elections, France,
Italy, and Portugal, have widen the gate of their democracy for their citizens
living abroad.
France has designated 12 Senate seats in the French National Assembly for its citizens residing abroad. While citizens of Italy living abroad are allowed to register and vote in the national elections, those Italians living overseas are also granted eight spots in the Italian National Parliament. Also, Portugal found it prudent to allow a total of four parliamentarians—two parliamentarians representing its citizens living in Europe and the other two representing Portuguese living in other parts of the globe. It has been reported that Ireland has a pending constitutional amendment that would eventually allow three members of its Senate to be elected by Irish emigrants.
One wonders why Nigeria is dragging its feet in granting voting rights to its citizens in the Diaspora. This issue has been burning on the minds of Nigerians in the Diaspora who feel disenfranchised by their country.
On December 11, 2005 Pan Ndi Igbo Foundation USA, Inc. issued a press statement entitled, "Ndi-Igbo under the auspices of Pan Ndi-Igbo Foundation (PNF USA) strongly demand the Diaspora Voting Rights Bill (DVRB)", that aptly captured the agitation of many Nigerians in the Diaspora on the issue of lack of participation in elections in Nigeria. The excerpts:
Pan Ndi-Igbo Foundation (PNF USA) emerged from her meeting with one voice, demanding strongly, that all Nigerians no matter wherever they reside should be allowed to register and vote in the Nigerian Gubernatorial and Presidential Elections. PNF USA sees it as a deviation in the practice of democracy for Nigeria to deny her citizens in the Diaspora the right to participate in the elections of Governors and the President of Nigeria. It is obvious that the decisions made and policies put in place by the office of the Nigerian President affect also Nigerians in Diaspora and as such Nigerians in Diaspora should not be denied the right to participate in choosing their leaders. In the light of the foregoing, PNF USA calls on the President and the legislature to enact with immediate effect the Voting Rights of Nigerians in the Diaspora.
Leading democracies around the world allow their citizens living abroad to participate in the elections of the home countries. These countries have been doing so and have made provision for her citizens residing at different points in the world participate in their elections and we believe that Nigeria should join in the league of countries that give every of their citizens the opportunity and right to speak with his/her vote. Again, PNF USA is asking the legislature to enact this into law and give the President the authority to prepare Nigerian Embassies and Consulates overseas to handle the next election coming in 2007.
PNF-USA is also asking the legislature to give a top priority attention to this matter since it will take some time to put in place all the logistics needed to have a good and reliable ballot returns from overseas.
We are calling on the president and the legislature to use their leadership to act on this onus matter; to make immediate provisions for Nigerian citizens abroad to register and vote during gubernatorial and presidential elections.
In 2003, during a roundtable discussion organized by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and sponsored by Friedrich Naumann Foundation under the theme: "Preparations towards election 2004: Prospects and Challenges", Dr Afari-Gyan talked about “the survey of 97 countries conducted by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) on how countries treat their citizens living abroad in relation to their elections indicates that 48 countries did not allow them to register and vote.” He said, “The survey also indicated that 12 other countries allowed their citizen living abroad to vote only in presidential elections whilst seven countries including Ghana allowed only a category of citizen to register and vote.”
If Ghana could allow her citizens living abroad to participate in her elections, we wonder why it has been difficult for Nigeria to do same?
Nigerians home and abroad should impress it upon the government to open the gates of democracy to all citizens. All the Nigerian organizations should join PNF USA in this clarion call. We have to put pressure on the government to act. We have the wherewithal to collectively put pressure on the government. It is pertinent to realize that the remittances of money that U.S. residents send to Nigeria for various projects contribute significantly to the economy of Nigeria. It’s unconscionable to deny us the right to vote considering our economic impact to the nation.
Though Nigerians in the Diaspora agitate in silence for the right to vote in the Nigeria’s national elections, their agitation has been tepid at best. They have not been able to organize to exert pressure on the government considering the enormous economic power they wield in terms remittances to Nigeria. However, it appears that a new approach is in the making to have the federal government and the legislature grant Nigerians living abroad the right to vote in the national elections.