Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, on Wednesday has warned that Nigeria’s electoral system must be strengthened to ensure that courts do not end up determining the winners of elections.
Falana made the call ahead of the 2027 general elections, stressing that the responsibility for declaring electoral winners should rest primarily with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He argued that prolonged legal battles over election results weaken public confidence in the electoral process and place an unnecessary burden on the judiciary.
The senior lawyer said INEC must conduct elections transparently and in accordance with the law so that election disputes can be substantially reduced.
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 also called for reforms to address shortcomings in the electoral process, urging political parties, candidates and election officials to respect the rules governing elections.
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.”
He maintained that credible elections should produce results that are accepted by the electorate, rather than leaving courts to determine who eventually emerges as the winner.
His comments come amid concerns over the growing number of election-related cases and conflicting judicial decisions ahead of the 2027 polls.
