By SUNDAY ABBA, Abuja
A proposal has gone out to the Independent National Commission (INEC) to pilot the much awaited Diaspora Voting in the coming Ekiti State gubernatorial elections.
A diplomat and leading gubernatorial aspirant under the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Otunba Olumuyiwa Babalola, is among those making the appeal, that INEC should officially pilot a Diaspora Voting Initiative in the upcoming Ekiti gubernatorial election, saying it would mark a historic turning point in Nigerian electoral inclusion.
The proposal called “No Ekiti Voice Left Behind”-is a legally-grounded, technologically feasible plan to enable Ekiti indigenes living outside the state and abroad to vote securely and transparently, according to a statement made available to the SUMMIT POST NEWS.
Drawing from global best practices in the United States, Israel, and Estonia, the initiative outlines a replicable framework that could become a national model.
“I am formally calling on INEC to make Ekiti the launchpad for Nigeria’s first full diaspora voting programme,” Babalola declared during a policy address in Ado -Ekiti. “This is not only a campaign promise. It is a constitutional evolution whose time has come.”
The Proposal Includes a secure online registration and ballot request system for diaspora voters; embassy and liaison-based polling centres for in-person voting abroad; pilot encrypted e-voting systems for high-integrity test groups; legislative cooperation to amend state electoral laws and align with national provisions,; and full compliance with INEC’s legal authority and electoral technology protocols.
Babalola emphasised that diaspora voters-many of whom are professionals, students and civic leaders-already contribute billions to the Nigerian economy and play key roles in shaping state and national narratives
“These are not passive citizens. They are investors in democracy. INEC must rise to the moment and recognise the diaspora not as spectators but as stakeholders.”
As part of his broader innovation and governance reform agenda, Babalola’s campaign is prepared to collaborate with INEC, civil society, the National Assembly, and international partners to test and deploy the plan.
His campaign’s rallying cry -“Ekiti to the World. South to the Front.”- now takes on a deeper urgency: “Enfranchisement is no longer a favour; it is a democratic necessity”.