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By Iheanyi Chukwudi
Legal luminary and civil rights activist, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), has warned of the danger in the court sanctioning 165,000 voters for mistakes of Electoral Officers.
Reacting to judgments of some courts on the last general elections, particularly that of Kano State governorship election, the renowned lawyer said the the recent tendency by the courts to sanction voters and deprive them of their rights to elect leaders of their choice due to the mistakes of some electoral officers, is a dangerous judicial trend.
Speaking in a television programme on Monday, Falana called for a review of some recent judgements delivered by the Court of Appeal, which sacked two governors of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara and Plateau states, and a New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) governor in Kano State.
He said, “If you look at what happened in Lagos, it is different from what happened in Plateau. You are being told in Plateau that there was a judgement of the High Court to the effect that primaries have to be conducted.
The judgement, as usual, was dishonoured and disobeyed and the election went on.
“It is different from Kano, where you are being told that voters can be punished. It is a very dangerous judicial policy to sanction voters for the mistake of electoral officers.
“We are being told that 165,000 votes are wasted, they are invalid because some electoral officers committed an error by not stamping them. How does that affect the validity of the election?
“I do hope that this time around, the Supreme Court will resolve these needless controversies surrounding the non-stamping of ballot papers by INEC officials, who have not been recommended for any sanction. This is why these judgements will have to be reviewed.”
Few days back Falana had aired a similar view when he argued that, “Nigeria cannot conduct credible elections without amending the relevant provisions of the constitution and Electoral Act to provide for the appointment of INEC members by advertisement, deployment of technology for accreditation of voters and transmission of election results from polling units to the central server of INEC.”
Falana had while speaking on “Updating Nigeria’s Electoral Reforms” at the Retreat of the Joint Committee on Electoral Matters, supported by Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre in Lagos said, “Once the electoral process is fully technologised the proof of election petitions will be based on the BVAS reports and uploaded results.
“The onus of proof of conduct of credible elections should shift to INEC and winners of elections. The question of dumping election materials will not arise, as they would be produced and certified by INEC.
“Democracy cannot be consolidated, where the masses are asked to tighten their belts while elected public officers are paying themselves jumbo salaries and allowances.”
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