The Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, noted that supreme court judgment on the presidential election case has put put an end to all contest, but maintained that it is not proper for the judiciary to decide winners of elections.
Falana, was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, insisted that Independent National Electoral Commission INEC should be body to determine winners of election if things are done the way they should be done.
He 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.
The Senior Advocate said that Nigeria must take cognisance of the fact that it has the largest concentration of black people on earth and therefore has a greater responsibility to put its house in order so that black people will not be insulted all over the world.
He clearly stated it that it doesn’t take much to conduct a good election if the political elites are honest and dedicated to conducting transparent elections.
It could be recalled that the apex court in its ruling on Thursday, upheld the election of President Bola Tinubu and dismissed the appeals by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar; and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi.
A seven-judge panel led by Justice John Okoro ruled that the opposition appeals over claims of fraud, electoral law violations, and Tinubu’s ineligibility to run for President lack merit.
