‘Osun Governorship Election Should Not Get To Court’ – Falana Explains Why

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said the recent Osun State governorship election should not end up in court because the people have already made their choice at the ballot box.

This is as Falana argued that Nigerian courts should not be placed in a position where they determine who wins elections, saying such a practice undermines the power of voters and makes a mockery of their decisions.

Naija News reports that the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television’s Sunrise Daily, while discussing the role of the judiciary in Nigeria’s electoral process.

According to him, the judiciary should only have a limited role in elections, particularly where a properly conducted poll has produced a clear winner.

Falana expressed concern that there was still no clear indication that the Nigerian judiciary was adequately positioned to deal with disputes that could arise from future elections, including the 2027 general elections.

He said the country must first address the extent to which courts should be involved in deciding electoral outcomes.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

The legal practitioner warned against situations where technicalities are used to overturn the choice made by voters.

Falana said INEC and other stakeholders must instead concentrate on ensuring that elections are conducted properly and that results announced reflect the actual votes cast.

Using the recent Osun governorship election as an example, Falana said the outcome should be respected by all parties because, according to him, voters had already made their decision.

“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.

He maintained that no court should hide behind technicalities to overturn what he described as the popular choice of the electorate.

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

The human rights lawyer said reducing election-related cases before tribunals and regular courts would begin with improving the quality of elections conducted by INEC.

He also called on the media and other Nigerians to play their roles in ensuring that only genuine results are announced.

“For me, the role of the judiciary must have to be extremely limited in the democratic process in our country,” Falana said.

He added that proper elections would reduce the grounds for election petitions and prevent unnecessary disputes from reaching tribunals and appellate courts.

“We must start with the conduct of good elections so that our courts are limited in the democratic process,” he said.