By EMEKA MAMAH
The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has said that last Saturday’s governorship election in Adamawa State was characterised by under-aged voting, warning that the phenomenon must be stopped in order not to legitimise illegality.

The NBA also noted that although the election was orderly and peaceful, elderly persons in the state were not allowed to express their democratic franchise during the election as the queues were too large and unwieldy for them to stand under the harsh weather to vote for their preferred candidates.

These observations were contained in a statement jointly signed by the co-chairmen of the NBA Election Working Group, NBA-EWG, Mr Dafe Akpedeye, SAN, and Festus Okoye  and made   available to Vanguard yesterday.
Lamenting what it described as the institutionalisation of the culture of disobedience to law and due process, the NBA-EWG said the non-complaint against such voters by the various political parties in the state amounted to compromising the integrity of the electoral process, which should be disencouraged.

The statement entitled NBA Election Working Group on the Gubernatorial Election conducted in Adamawa State on February 4, 2012, read in part: ‘’Some communities have by their conduct legitimized under-aged voting thereby making it look like an acceptable electoral conduct by persons that are not of voting age and assisting to compromise the integrity of the electoral process and in the process institutionalised the culture of disobedience to law and due process.

’’The voting by these groups of persons did not elicit any adverse reaction from some of the adults and eligible voters in the polling units thereby giving the phenomenon a stamp of acceptability.

However, most senior citizens had difficulty coping with the long queues at the polling stations during accreditation and voting.

‘’The Electoral Act 2010, as amended, should be further amended to give Presiding Officers the discretion to create a separate queue for senior citizens.

’’Some senior citizens had a hectic time coping with younger elements on the queue.
’’Some of them could hardly withstand the harsh weather and the surging crowds in some of the polling units. The creation of a separate queue for senior citizens will encourage them to remain engaged with the electoral process and continue to perform their civic responsibility.”