In this file photo, Femi Falana, SAN, appears on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday, August 18, 2023
Nigeria-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has once again reiterated his usual position about election matters in the country, saying winners should stop emerging through the courts.
Falana, who was reacting to Thursday’s judgment of the Supreme Court in the presidential election case, stated that it had all contest, but maintained that it is not ideal for the judiciary to decide winners of elections.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today Friday evening, the former Chairman of ECOWAS Bar Association insisted that determining winners of election is an exclusive reserve of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), if things are done the way they should be done.
By implication, Falana was saying that the idea of winners in a controversial election process asking aggrieved parties to go to court is unnecessary.
He was speaking just as many Nigerians are now saying they have learnt their lessons from the the handling of 2023 elections by INEC and attitude of the ruling party, which thrives in asking the aggrieved parties to go to court, knowing fully well that they will not get justice.
The DEFENDER reports the extent of challenges faced by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) with INEC refusing and, sometimes, preventing them from accessing certified true copies (CTC) of some of the sensitive materials they required to back up their petitions at the tribunal, knowing the court will not look at the cause by the electoral umpire in giving its ruling.
The legal luminary, Femi Falana said, “No doubt the judgment of the Supreme Court ascended the electoral contestation as far as the presidential election conducted in February this year is concerned, but for sure it is not a judicial endorsement of the conduct of the election by INEC.
“And what I mean is that even with the judgment, it is very clear that Nigeria has a long way to go in terms of ensuring that credible elections are conducted, elections that will be devoid of acrimony, elections that all of us will be proud of, but we are still a long way from there even with the judgment.
“Yes for now the presidential election is concluded, it should have been concluded in February, but it has just been concluded by the Supreme Court and it should not be so. The judiciary should not determine the winners of elections.
“Judges are not suited to determine the winners of election; that is a job that is the exclusive reserve of INEC if things are done properly and that is why we must put an end to the shame that has become our law in terms of conducting elections,” Falana said.
The Senior Advocate said Nigeria must realise at all times that it has the largest concentration of black people on earth and therefore has a greater responsibility to put its house in order so that black people will not be insulted all over the world.
He said it doesn’t take much to conduct a good election if the political class are honest and dedicated in the conduct of transparent elections.
The apex court in its ruling on Thursday, upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu and dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.
A seven-judge panel led by Justice John Okoro ruled that the opposition appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for President lack merit..
