Falana: 2023 Polls Showed Nigerians Are the ‘Political Structure’
- Foremost human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has reacted to the just-concluded presidential election
- The senior advocate revealed that the electoral sense of Nigeria's electorates has heightened and sharpened
- He said the presidential and national assembly polls were a testament that power belongs to the masses
Renowned human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) says the 2023 presidential polls were a true testament that power belongs to the people and the masses are the political structure, contrary to the general belief that political system has to be a big political party.
The pragmatic legal luminary stated this during an interview in a live telecast on Monday, March 13.
Source: UGC
As reported by the Vanguard newspaper, he noted that despite the negatives recorded during the presidential polls, there were also positives that can be pointed out during the election.
His words:
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“There are some positive developments that were recorded.
“For instance, the myth of these political structures has been destroyed whereby people have shown that we are the structure, and the people are the structure ultimately.
“Secondly, young people have also shown this time around that we are going to determine the future of our country."
He further noted that Nigeria is becoming a politically mature state, and the 2023 presidential polls also rendered moneybag politics useless despite the problematic challenges inflicted on citizens by the government.
Falana also hailed the outcome of the national assembly elections and how some sitting governors who decided to turn the legislative chamber into a retirement ground lost their elections.
Similarly, he took a swipe at incumbent governors who could not deliver their state and lost woefully at the presidential polls.
He said:
“Another development is that whereas the Senate chamber has been converted to a resting home for former governors; this time around, many of the governors lost their seats, they lost in the election and so they won’t be able to go back to the National Assembly.
“The other development is that sitting governors and sitting president could not win their states for their political parties."
Falana calls out INEC
Meanwhile, Falana did not spare the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for how it handled the electoral process.
As reported by This Day newspaper, Falana expressed his disappointment in the electoral body for failing to keep its promises of uploading the results in real-time as promised in the build-up to the election.
He charged INEC to change the narrative and perform due diligence in ensuring seamless and hitch-free gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections.
Falana also said postponing the election by a week was enough to solidify INEC's preparedness, as Nigerians will not entertain any excuse at the gubernatorial polls.
2023 Presidential Election Marred by Manipulation of Results, Falana Declares
Similarly, Femi Falana (SAN) has described the 2023 presidential election as an exercise marred with manipulations.
According to him, factors that marred the elections included insecurity, late arrival of materials, violence and thuggery.
Recall that INEC declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the presidential election.
Source: Legit.ng
