Insight #NigeriaDecides: Vulnerable voters neglected in Nigeria's voting process

 Events from the 2023 presidential and National Assembly elections show that vulnerable persons are being neglected during the voting process.

Vulnerable persons, as defined by the Electoral Act 2022, include a woman, child, or person living in extreme poverty, a person with a disability (PWD), the sick and the elderly, a refugee, an internally displaced person, a migrant, a person in detention or ethnic and religious minority groups. 

Section 54 of the Act expressly states how these persons will be catered for on election day. Sub-section I and II state:

“(1) A voter with visual impairment or other form of disability who is otherwise unable to distinguish symbol or who suffers from any other physical disability may be accompanied into the polling unit by a person chosen by him or her and that person shall, after informing the Presiding officer of the disability, be permitted to accompany the voter into the voting compartment and assist the voter to make his or her mark in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Commission.

(2) The Commission shall take reasonable steps to ensure that persons with disabilities, special needs and vulnerable persons are assisted at the polling place by the provision of suitable means of communication, such as Braille, large embossed print, electronic devices, sign language interpretation, or offsite voting in appropriate cases.”

However, reports from the field show that this is not the case. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not help the situation either.

In Kwara State, a report from the Center for Journalism and Innovative Development (CJID) revealed that vulnerable persons were not assisted in five polling units visited.

This was also the case in three polling units in Offa Local Government and two in Oyun Local Government.

In polling unit (PU) 006 at Ojuma Open Space, the PWDs present needed to be provided with the necessary assistance to enable them to cast their votes, but nothing was done to assist them. The same was true in PU 011 and Open Space Anifowosha, as the BVAS couldn’t capture the blind for accreditation.

The situation in Kwara State included pregnant women as they were also neglected. Reports from PU 008 Ijagbo ward in Oyun Local Government revealed that the PWDs were left out as no machine aid was provided. Pregnant women were disadvantaged in another polling unit not far away, PU 002. Activities at the unit showed that no special aid was provided for the pregnant women and the PWDs present to cast their votes.

Also, in PU 024 Kotangora, Niger State, the PWDs were neglected as no machine was provided to aid them in casting their votes.

The INEC, in its report, stated that vulnerable persons constitute 70 percent of the just concluded continuous voter registration. Thus, they constitute a good proportion of the available voters.

In order to exercise their rights, they have called for total inclusion in all electoral processes. They seek to exercise their rights as citizens but are limited by their conditions. 

Despite the provision in the electoral act to provide for them, event shows they need to be addressed on election day.

“We have to understand that vulnerable persons are our sisters, brothers, fathers and mothers. They are human beings like us and so should be assisted when the need be. We do not need to be pitied but assisted. I urge INEC to change this situation during governorship elections,” said Farouk Ibrahim, a vulnerable person in Lagos, who said he was not supported when he voted at Festac.