Judges Not Suited To Determine Winners Of Election — Falana

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said judges are not suited to determine the winners of elections in an ideal society.

Falana, who appeared on Channels TV programme on Friday, maintained that determining winners of elections is an exclusive reserve of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if things are done the way they should be done.

The top lawyer’s remark is his reaction to the Supreme Court ruling which upheld the victory of Bola Tinubu in February.

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.

According to the Senior Advocate, Nigeria must always remember that it has the highest concentration of black people on the planet and hence has a bigger obligation to put its house in order so that black people are not insulted all over the world.

He stated that it does not take much to conduct a decent election if the political class is honest and committed to transparent elections.

In its verdict on Thursday, the Supreme Court confirmed President Bola Tinubu’s election and dismissed the challenges of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.