2027: Courts should not determine election winners – Falana

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, on Wednesday declared that courts should not be allowed to determine the winners of elections in Nigeria.

Falana insisted that the involvement of the judiciary in Nigeria’s democratic process should be limited because it’s making a mockery of the citizen’s choices.

Speaking on Arise Television’s Sunrise Daily, the activist lawyer noted that there are no indications that the judiciary is positioned to address the challenges that could arise in the 2027 general elections.

According to Falana: “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.

“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.”

Falana insisted that the judiciary should not be allowed to hide under technicalities to make a mockery of those duly elected by Nigerians.

He stressed on the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and relevant stakeholders to ensure the conduct of proper elections devoid of electoral irregularities.

Falana added: “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 so no court should be allowed to hide under technicalities to make a mockery of the popular choice of the people.

“So for me, the role of the judiciary must have to be extremely limited in the democratic process in our country. Again that depends on the media, INEC, and all concerned Nigerians to ensure that elections are conducted, no fake results are announced, so that you limit the area that people might want to go to tribunal, the regular court, or the appellate court. We must start with the conduct of good elections so that our courts are limited in the democratic process.”