But one could ask: besides the logistics, why would Nigerian mono-citizens living abroad be denied voting rights by Nigerians INSIDE Nigeria?
Several traditional arguments are the following:
- we would be voting on issues, the effect of which we would not be around in Nigeria to be impacted. Nigerians might be "shuffering" inside Nigeria, while we are "shmiling" abroad!
- certain political circumstances may make us all MORE LIABLE to vote in certain ways. The government favored by such an expatriate tendency would therefore support citizens abroad
voting, while an unfavored government would oppose it.
- Item ii would only matter if the number of such citizens resident abroad are such that their numbers would ACTUALLY change the outcome of a referendum or voting in Nigeria. If this did not matter, then we would merely be voting for sentimental reasons - merely to exercise our democratic right to vote, which is okay!
A cynical fourth reason is that:
- Nigerians living abroad may come in to take part in the political process, and shove aside (ie win elections over) those who living at home.
Finally, just yesterday, a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at a Washington DC public forum of Nigerians added another wrinkle which I had never thought about before:
- he claimed that his winning argument against the vote on the Senate floor was that if we are allowed to vote, that would be a disincentive for us resident abroad to return to Nigeria! Thus, denying us the vote is an incentive to return to Nigeria.
Taking on Item (i), if we vote only in Federal elections, in this global age, the impact of federal policies in Nigeria affect Nigerians everywhere: who our president is, for example, affects our international image; the foreign policy of his party and government affect our
international stature, and our own ability to do commerce and our decision to return permanently to Nigeria are all dependent largely on federal government policy.
I do not, of course, remove the right of states to allow its "citizens" abroad to vote in their state elections, but my primary concern right now is with federal elections.
Item (ii) - the political tendencies of the Nigerians living abroad - is a little bit trickier. Nigeria's political landscape is non-ideological, so it is virtually impossible to say whether most Nigerians living abroad are capitalistic, socialist, conservative, liberal, republican or what not. But this much I know: there are more SOUTHERN NIGERIANS living abroad
than NORTHERN NIGERIANS! [We could break the Southern Nigerians even further - but we won't go there for now! :-)]
If that is the case - and it is - then you might expect Southern Nigerians
inside Nigeria to favor Nigerians abroad voting, while the opposite would
be for Northern Nigerians. In fact, there have been some hints already
that we are having problems in the Legislature because there are more
Northern legislators in the National Assembly than Southern legislators.
The fact of the matter is that this is debatable, precisely because of
Item (iv): that in fact SOUTHERN LEGISLATORS who wish to remain in power,
or potential SOUTHERN CANDIDATES feel more threatened by Nigerians
resident abroad than Northern legislators and people. This is at the same
time paradoxical and non-paradoxical. Short of us renouncing our rights
to contest in elections in Nigeria, this is not a fear that can be
allayed.
Item (iii) cannot be overlooked: when you read of numbers like 1 million
- 3 million Nigerians resident abroad, if just 30% of those people vote,
that could have an impact on the elections back home. Again, that is
another fear that need not be allayed: if we vote in numbers, then we
should have an impact, period.
Item (v) need not be dignified: in short it punishes us Nigerians living
abroad by withdrawing a voting right, with the hope that we would
therefore come home simply because we are so enamored to vote. That is
ridiculous: to vote in order to create an environment for me to return
home is a greater surety for me to return than to emasculate my ability to
vote. I told the Senator of the Federal Republic just that, and he seemed
to understand my logic - I think - and he asked me to give him a call to
discuss it further! Having also handed him a petition by "Concerned
Nigerians Citizens Abroad," I will give him a call to see whether I can
turn him from a self-described MAJOR OPPONENT (and chief argumentator on
the Senate floor) to even a MINOR SUPPORTER.
Dual Citizens and Voting
There seem to be three other concerns here:
- whether dual citizens of Nigeria should vote.
- whether dual citizens of Nigeria should be voted for in office.
- the implications for the Nigerian concerning his foreign
citizenship if he were allowed to vote in another country and/or
hold office in another country.
I believe that most people would state that if a dual citizen can vote in
Nigeria, then he should be allowed to hold office. Thus (i) should imply
(ii), but I believe that we should separate the two to make things
clearer.
Let me quickly dismiss Item (iii). This depends on the laws and
constitution of the foreign country of which he is a naturalized citizen.
If the law/constitution clearly states that he will lose his naturalized
citizenship thereby, then he is aware of that particular risk, and he can
make his mental calculation of the personal costs to himself when that axe
falls. But he will also be wise to refer to CASE LAW - if ABSOLUTELY NO
ONE HAS EVER lost his citizenship, and he can provide examples of people
who have not lost their citizenship thereby, then the risk is very small.
Of course, he may wish to be a case for constitutional test. I believe
that that is the case of Nigerians naturalized in the US. Personally, I
believe that the risk of losing US citizenship is minimal for the
naturalized Nigerian through voting or being voted. In fact, I believe
that it is non-existent based on the AFFIRMATIVE RENOUNCIATION requirement
of the United States for losing your citizenship.
On a pragmatic note, I do not see why a country would want to prevent its
citizens living abroad from voting in the foreign country that they reside
in if that country permits it! After all, the essence of democracy is to
have an input in the environment in which you live, so why would you deny
your own citizen that chance to impact positively on himself, except you
yourself operate a tyranny? In fact, he might vote in a manner FAVORABLE
to his home country - so why should that be a problem to that home
country? Let that be the problem of that foreign country! Why would
Nigeria, for example, strip me of my citizenship because I vote in the US?
(After all, they never really know exactly how I vote on any given issue!)
That is enlightened self-interest.
What about dual citizens voting in the home country? Note here that I am
considering that the issue of whether such a dual citizen is resident in
Nigeria or abroad quite secondary. Having established zero risk of losing
naturalized citizenship, that now depends on the individual's birth (home)
country. If Nigeria (or any other country for that matter) considers that
dual citizen as just another citizen, then there is no question that he
should vote and can be voted for. However, if you don't allow a dual
citizen to vote, it must be either because you NO LONGER consider him a
citizen, or according to the Disqualification sections, he is still a
citizen, but has done something similar (as in Nigeria's 1999
Constitution) to being a lunatic or one of unsound mind, is under sentence
of death, or has been adjudged fraudulent or dishonest, has embezzled or
presented a forged certificate, or he is a civil servant. (This civil
servant incapacity is also another illegal provision, but that is another
story.)
See for example
Section 66: Disqualifications for National Assembly election
But you cannot consider him NOT to be a citizen since the same
constitution (or law) PERMITTED him to be called a dual citizen in the
first instance! So it must mean that you are punishing him for being a
citizen who has "sworn an allegiance to another country", just as you are
punishing a citizen for being a lunatic, for embezzling, etc.. In short,
you are making "swearing an allegiance to another country" an offence.
Similarly, the Constitution is also making being a civil servant an
offence that deprives you of a right of citizenship, which is not in any
of Nigeria's law books or constitution.
I believe therefore that this is where the crux of the argument lies:
- if you make "swearing an allegiance to another country" an offence,
then the issue of dual citizenship is moot: it is not permitted.
Let the Constitution and the law books reflect that.
- if you allow dual citizenship, then you cannot by implication
make "swearing an allegiance to another country" into an offence,
because it is a central notion of jurisprudence that a person
must CLEARLY know what law he violates AHEAD of time - or the
law must exist in the statute books - not sneak in on him AFTER he
has violated it.
If the law does not consider "swearing an allegiance to another country"
an offence, it would appear that it "suspects" the person's loyalties,
that is why it does not wish him to vote, or does not wish him to hold
office. However, about voting, you do not know HOW any particular
mono-citizen votes, and except you can show that ALL mono-citizens vote in
a particular way while all DUAL CITIZENS vote in another way. Thus, it
would be IMPOSSIBLE to know whether a dual citizen has been disloyal or
not in his voting pattern. This is therefore suspicion of guilt while
being most probably innocent.
Yet, when it comes to loyalties, history is full of mono-citizens being
SPIES, and hence being disloyal to their own birth countries. Therefore,
there disloyalty is not the sole province of dual citizens, and
furthermore there is ABSOLUTELY no track record that shows that dual
citizens are more liable to being disloyal - like spies are - than
mono-citizens. In fact, since they have already tipped their divided
loyalties, they are probably easier to monitor (and prevent from being
spies) than mono-citizens.
However, I am quite prepared, for sentimental reasons - or to make
assurances doubly sure - to have a person give up his naturalized
citizenship AFTER he has won an election, to allay ALL fears of divided
loyalty. Nothing should stop a mono-citizen candidate from bringing up
his opponent's dual citizenship, but that should be up to the electorate
to determine whether that is sufficient reason to vote the dual citizen
candidate down. I am also prepared to have the dual citizen candidate be
FINED HEAVILY if, after winning, he refuses to renounce his foreign
citizenship, meaning that new elections would have to be called. The fine
should be such as to be able to finance a new bye-election for the
position.
These have been a rather tortured arguments, but there they are. The
whole point is that we are on firm ground when we assert that ALL Nigerian
citizens, dual or not, residing in Nigeria or not, should be able to vote
and be voted for.
That is our claim, and we are sticking with it.
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