Mutfwang, Falana, Others Advocate Against Courts’ Role In Deciding Election Outcomes

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, human rights activist Femi Falana, and others have said that Nigeria must ensure that true winners of elections emerge before swearing-in.

Naija News understands that they individually addressed attendees at the annual colloquium organized by the Haske Satumari Foundation, focusing on the designated theme, “Electoral and Judicial Reforms: The Imperatives on Nigeria’s Democracy, Governance, Leadership and its Selection Processes,” held on Thursday in Abuja.

Governor Mutfwang expressed worry about the multitude of court pronouncements on the 2023 election petitions, emphasizing the critical role of leadership.

He argued against solely relying on judges and lawyers to ascertain the true winners of elections, stating that such a practice would be out of step with current trends.

According to Daily Trust, a well-known human rights advocate, Femi Falana, has levelled severe accusations against a faction of lawyers in Nigeria.

He accused them of deliberately sabotaging the system and insisted that the decision of who becomes an elected representative should not be left to lawyers and judges.

Falana said, “Electoral system is good. What we should remove is the intervention of the court.

“Let’s make the electoral process transparent, transmit the results from the polling unit to the server and insist on electronic transmission.

“If you must know, judges are not suited to determine who wins election. Because they were not there.

“The winner should be determined by the electorates and not judges.”

Former Vice President Namadi Sambo, speaking on behalf of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, expressed their expectation that the colloquium’s conclusions would positively impact Nigeria’s development.