Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, addressed the incident in Kogi Central where ballot papers were purportedly thumbprinted before reaching the polling station, causing voter protests. Falana stressed that this action is not associated with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) but stems from politicians neglecting the democratic rights of the people.
During the Channels Television interview in a video (21:37), Falana highlighted that despite the irregularities, the votes were still counted. He expressed concern about the current approach to addressing such issues and urged everyone to go to court. Falana also conveyed skepticism about the effectiveness of tribunals in determining matters they might not have witnessed firsthand.
According to him, “You saw what happened in Kogi Central, where ballot papers had been thumb-printed, right? And when they were brought, the voters protested. That has nothing to do with the independent National Electoral Commission. This was just the act of politicians who have no respect for the democratic rights of the people. But again, at the end of the day, the votes were counted, so what do you make of that? Oh, everybody should go to court. Again, we’re tasking the members of the tribunal that will be set up to determine matters they know nothing about because they were not on ground. When these monumental violations of the electoral act were committed by well-known people, nothing would happen. So these are the problems we have to address.”