It was voting time again in Kano State this weekend, and it has become the norm in this northern State, under-aged children queued up and voted without anyone raising eyebrows.
As residents of the state voted for council officials in the 44 Local Government Areas of the State, officials of the State Independent Electoral Commission could be seen in videos now gone viral, aiding under-aged children to vote.
Nigerian law stipulates that only Nigerians aged 18 years and above are permitted to vote in elections. But the use of young children to rig election is becoming an issue in Nigerian politics. This came to the limelight in Kano in the 2015 general elections, where photos showed clearly unqualified children lining up to be accredited and later allowed to vote at polling stations.
In that election, Kano State had about two million votes in the presidential election, thus emerging as one of the strongholds of the ruling All Progressives Congress, which controls the state.
In this weekend’s election, pictures and videos, now viral, have shown such children, some as young as between 10 and 16 years, being accredited to vote.
A proof that these are current pictures and videos is the fact that the electoral officials are seen wearing face masks.
Prof. Ibrahim Sheka, Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, recently disclosed the combustible nature of elections in Kano.
“Our elections are always warlike, while it is trailed and marred with chaos and uncertainty. Elections in Kano are always warlike,” Sheka has said on Tuesday, four days to the polls.
“Election in Kano state requires adequate security because it always looks like the entire world is coming to an end,” he further declared,” he added at the opening of a workshop for Civil Society Election Observers for the polls that held on Saturday.
