Renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has described the ongoing amendment of Nigeria’s Electoral Act as futile if the laws are not properly enforced.
Speaking during a Sunday interview on Arise Television, Falana argued that Nigeria’s democratic challenges do not stem from a lack of legislation, but from the political elite’s persistent failure to implement existing laws.
According to him, the country’s political system has drifted away from ideology and quality representation, with politics now driven largely by personal gain, especially through party defections.
He noted that politicians freely abandon the parties that brought them to power, move to new platforms, and face no sanctions, a situation he described as a serious threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
Falana lamented the culture of impunity surrounding electoral offences, stressing that Nigeria already has strong legal provisions against practices such as vote-buying, thuggery and other forms of electoral malpractice.
“We operate in an atmosphere of reckless impunity.
“The ongoing amendment exercise is time wasting if there is no enforcement,” he said.
“There are already stiff penalties for offences like vote-buying and violence, but the political class and ruling parties have never shown the will to arrest and prosecute offenders.”
He recalled that as far back as 2008, the Wale Panel had recommended the creation of an Electoral Offences Commission to investigate and prosecute electoral crimes, but successive governments have failed to act on it.
“No regime, including those that campaigned for electoral reforms, has ever thought of setting up that now, what is the big deal now?Falana also criticised repeated attempts to increase campaign funding limits, noting that politicians routinely ignore existing regulations without consequences.
“We want to increase campaign funds and nobody has ever complied with that.
“The only important Political point in Nigeria today is the gale of defections, and nobody is talking of that even in the proposed amendment,” he said.
He concluded that the real political issue in Nigeria today is the unchecked wave of defections across parties, yet it is not being addressed in the proposed amendments, warning that without enforcement and accountability, electoral reforms will remain ineffective.
