Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has criticized the way local elections are conducted by State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC) According to Falana, these elections are highly flawed and unfair.
Speaking in a video shared by Channels TV, Falana said people who belong to political parties other than the ruling party in a particular state no longer bother to participate in elections for local government areas because the winners are already decided before the voting even takes place. He said this makes it pointless for opposition candidates to spend their time, money, and energy running for office.
Falana stated that in these local elections, all the candidates from the ruling party, whether they are running for chairmanship or councillorship positions, are almost always declared the winners. He said this issue has not been properly addressed and continues to undermine the democratic process in Nigeria.
In Falana's words: "No serious member of opposition in any state contest, participates in LGA election because the results are already known, predetermined. So if you waste your money, time, resources and energy you already know the results. The candidates of the ruling party: all the chairmanship candidates, all the councillorship candidates will be declared the winner inorder to ensure that nobody raises a query at the end of the month when the money comes. We have not addressed this yet"
Watch the video from 14:16