Prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba, has come out strongly against a proposed bill seeking to make voting mandatory in Nigeria, declaring that he would rather be imprisoned than comply with such a law.
“If that bill were to pass, I would say, ‘Agbakoba, we will not obey it.’ I’ll plead conscientious objection. I’d rather go to prison for six months than to obey it,” Agbakoba said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
The controversial bill, which has passed second reading in the House of Representatives, aims to amend the Electoral Act to enforce compulsory voting for all eligible Nigerians.
Sponsored by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas and Labour Party lawmaker Daniel Asama Ago, the bill is intended to reduce voter apathy and vote-buying, according to its proponents.
But Agbakoba argued that the bill misses the point entirely, failing to address the root causes of widespread electoral disengagement.
“Why would the National Assembly want to impose compulsory voting? Why don’t they reverse the question and ask: why are Nigerians not interested? What is the apathy about?” he asked.
According to him, the apathy stems not from laziness or lack of civic responsibility, but from long-standing exclusion and unmet promises by politicians. “The apathy is that they don’t get anything.
“If I know that I’m going to get something—there’s an aspiration, there’s an interest—you will find people coming out to vote. But then people see the same old trick. You come, you take my vote, you disappear till the next four years,” he said.
He lamented that Nigeria’s political structure continues to exclude the majority of its citizens.
“Right now, we have a big problem with having a system that excludes. People are not taking part in the process. Democracy cannot succeed if it continues to serve only a select elite.”
Agbakoba also warned that the build-up to the 2027 elections is showing early signs of the same old patterns: coalitions, defections, and political maneuvering, with little concern for the welfare of ordinary Nigerians.
“I have not heard many politicians talk about the people—about their suffering, their lack of opportunities,” he said.
