Human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, has called for a review of the role of the judiciary in Nigeria’s electoral process, saying courts should not determine the winners of elections.
Falana made the call while speaking on Arise Television’s Sunrise Daily programme.
The legal practitioner said the judiciary’s involvement in determining electoral outcomes had the potential to undermine the choices made by voters.
He said there were no clear indications that the judiciary was adequately positioned to address some of the challenges that could arise from the 2027 general elections.
“There is no indication yet that the Nigerian judiciary is positioned to address some of the challenges that may emanate with respect to some of the elections likely to take place in January and February next year,” Falana said.
He said the first issue that should be addressed was the role of the judiciary in the electoral process.
“For me, the first matter to address is the role of the judiciary in the electoral process in Nigeria. We must stop the practice whereby the court determine the winners of the election in Nigeria,” he said.
Falana stressed the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders to ensure credible elections devoid of electoral irregularities.
He said conducting transparent elections would reduce the number of electoral disputes that eventually end up before tribunals and courts.
“We just had an election in Osun State, forget all the shortcomings, at the end of the day, the beauty of it will be that the governorship election will not go to court because the people have decided, they have elected their leader,” he said.
Falana said courts should not rely on technicalities to undermine the popular choice of voters.
He called for a stronger electoral process that would ensure that genuine election results were announced and accepted.
“So for me, the role of the judiciary must have to be extremely limited in the democratic process in our country,” he said.
According to him, achieving this would depend on the media, INEC and other Nigerians ensuring that elections were properly conducted and that fake results were not announced.
“We must start with the conduct of good elections so that our courts are limited in the democratic process,” Falana said.
He said credible elections remained the most effective way to reduce the number of electoral disputes taken to election tribunals, regular courts and appellate courts.
The lawyer urged all stakeholders to work towards strengthening Nigeria’s electoral process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
