Human rights lawyer and Professor Chidi Odinkalu has argued that holding Nigeria’s elections on January 16 could unintentionally disenfranchise many voters and expose deep flaws in the country’s nation-building efforts.
Speaking on The Mic On Podcast, Odinkalu said scheduling the polls for January 16 because of the Ramadan calendar ignores the travel realities of many Nigerians, particularly Igbos who traditionally return to their hometowns during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
“If you fix elections on January 16, you’re telling Igbos who go from where they live, ‘You must not come back,’ because if you do, you’re in trouble.”
According to him, many Igbo voters registered in cities such as Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and other parts of the country would still be in their hometowns after the festive season, making it unrealistic and unsafe to return solely to vote before travelling back again.
Odinkalu argued that shifting the elections to late January rather than mid-January would make a significant difference while still avoiding a clash with Ramadan, which is expected to begin around February 7 or 8 next year.
He added that the same challenge affects many Northerners living in Southern Nigeria, saying they also tend to remain in their home states until after the festive period.
The professor said the issue goes beyond election dates, describing it as a reflection of Nigeria’s unresolved questions of national identity, belonging and equal participation, stressing that electoral planning should accommodate the movement patterns of citizens rather than unintentionally excluding them.
