Why judges must not decide election winners – Mutfwang, Falana

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

They spoke separately at the Haske Satumari Foundation annual colloquium with the theme, “Electoral And Judicial Reforms: The Imperatives on Nigeria’s Democracy, Governance, Leadership and its selection processes,” held Thursday at the Yar’Adua Centre Abuja.

Governor Mutfwang expressed shock at the various court pronouncements that came up in the course of litigations around the outcome of the 2023 elections.

He said since leadership recruitment had become crucial, it would  be unfashionable to allow the judges and lawyers to decide the true winner of election.

“Our leadership recruitment is a fraud. Some of us get into positions of leadership simply by the mercy of God, not because of fat bank account.

“We must develop rules that are clear and transparent. Our process is far from being transparent. To strengthen democracy, electoral reform is important.

“Also, comprehensive judicial reforms became expedient because every election circle had its legal regime.

“For the judiciary, there is an urgent need to safeguard its independence and integrity. What we witnessed is partisan interference,” Mutfwang said, adding that “the judgment that came out as a result of the 2023 elections petitions, even professors of law became confused with the legal jurisprudence.”

“Both the lawyers and the judges must up their game. Time has come when lawyers must tell their clients “you have a bad case. Judges and lawyers should not determine who wins the election,” Mutfwang added.

He said injustice in the electoral process starts from constituency delineation, adding that the country must have a way of resolving it.

Speaking on democracy in Nigeria, Mutfwang said while he doesn’t believe in throwing the baby and the bath water, he said: “We can’t afford to return to the dark days of military rule. We didn’t have a clean Constitution in 1999. Falana is here. That’s what the military brought and we must not return to military rule.”

…Falana slams colleagues  

In his remarks, Falana, a legal luminary, said judges and lawyers were not suited to determine winners of elections because they were not there.

“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.”