Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Wednesday said President Muhammadu Buhari is encouraging under-age voting by not signing the Electoral Act passed by the National Assembly into law.

The group said the only way the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can prevent the incidence of under-age voting in the 2019 general elections was to insist on the use of card reader for all registered voters.

According to INEC, 13.5 million Nigerians voted manually without biometric accreditation in the 2015 presidential election.

The data shows that President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won in nine of the 10 states where people voted manually.

Speaking to our correspondent, Yinka Odumakin, national publicity secretary of Afenifere, said President Buhari having been a major beneficiary of underage voting in 2015 wanted a repeat next month hence his refusal to sign the Electoral Act.

The organisation further urged the international community such as the US, UK, EU and other foreign observers to monitor the election and insist INEC did the right thing, saying the whole world would be affected if the election in Nigeria went awry.

“In spite of the refusal of the president to sign the Electoral Act, INEC must insist on the use of card reader. Every voter must go through card reader.

“Remember that we have a lot of under-age voting in 2015. That was possible because 13.5 million voters voted manually without card readers. 45 percent of these ones are in the areas where President Buhari won election.

“That is why they want to enjoy it again this time around by not signing the Electoral Act. This election is so important to the future of this country as a stable polity. So, INEC must do everything possible to ensure that such things are prevented.

“Also, the world community like the US, EU, UK and others must beam their searchlight on Nigeria and put their foot down because in their own self-interest, if anything goes wrong in Nigeria, all their countries are in trouble. So, it is in the interest of the world community that nothing happens to dislocate the peace of Nigeria,” he said.

•Excerpted from a Daily Independent report