{"id":164401,"date":"2025-05-27T09:17:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T08:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill"},"modified":"2025-05-27T10:19:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T09:19:35","slug":"speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Abbas withdraws controversial compulsory voting bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has withdrawn the controversial compulsory voting bill following backlash by civil society organisations and activists.<\/p>\n

Organisations like CISLAC and Yiaga Africa and several vocal legal experts had largely described the bill undemocratic and impractical.<\/p>\n

The bill sought to amend the 2022 Electoral Act to impose a six-month jail term or a fine of N100,000 on any registered voter who fails to cast their ballot during elections.<\/p>\n

The bill, co-sponsored by Abbas and Daniel Asama Ago, had passed second reading on May 15. But the Speaker announced its withdrawal Sunday night through a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Musa Abdullahi Krishi.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the outset, the bill was introduced with the best of intentions… Nevertheless, the Speaker acknowledges that lawmaking is ultimately about the people it serves, and that any reform must respect individual freedoms and public sentiment,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

The statement also emphasized that Abbas would focus on \u201cpositive incentives and innovative approaches\u201d to encourage civil engagement without resorting to compulsion.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has withdrawn the controversial compulsory voting bill following backlash by civil society organisations and activists. Organisations like CISLAC and Yiaga Africa and several vocal legal experts had largely described the bill undemocratic and impractical. The bill sought to amend the 2022 Electoral Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":164400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[17481,897,254,17480],"class_list":["post-164401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-compulsory-voting-bill","tag-house-of-representatives","tag-nigeria","tag-tajudeen-abbs"],"yoast_head":"\nSpeaker Abbas withdraws controversial compulsory voting bill - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has withdrawn the controversial compulsory voting bill follo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Speaker Abbas withdraws controversial compulsory voting bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has withdrawn the controversial compulsory voting bill follo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T08:17:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-27T09:19:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748325010.881303.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1151\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Speaker Abbas withdraws controversial compulsory voting bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T08:17:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-27T09:19:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\"},\"wordCount\":191,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1748325010.881303.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"compulsory voting bill\",\"House of Representatives\",\"Nigeria\",\"Tajudeen Abbs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/speaker-abbas-withdraws-controversial-compulsory-voting-bill\",\"name\":\"Speaker Abbas withdraws controversial compulsory voting bill - 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