Voter Turnout Will Keep Reducing If Killings During Elections Don’t Stop – Falana

Posted by: Folamidavid in Politics, News Nov 20, 2019

Human Rights Lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has said that if nothing is done to tackle impunity in the electoral system, Nigeria would keep seeing its number of voters reduce in future elections.

He shared this on Monday in Abuja, as he spoke as a panelist at a Digital Voting Summit, organized by RestoreNaija, an NGO.

According to Falana, Nigeria’s democracy is now war by the ruling class.

His words, “We are talking about 34 per cent voter turnout in 2015.

“If this trend of electoral brigandage, unprecedented electoral violence and thuggery continues, I am afraid in 2023 we will be talking of less than 10 per cent of registered voter-turnout.”

“Next time, you do not expect people to be willing to participate in a war, because election in Nigeria has become a war for the ruling class.”

He added that the people that were arrested for electoral violence in past elections, including that of Kogi, must be prosecuted and sanctioned, and electronic voting must be seen as the answer to the increased killings and high cost of elections in Nigeria.

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Femi Falana SAN (born 20 May 1958) is a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist. He contested and lost the governorship election of Ekiti State in 2007 on the platform of the National Conscience Party, a party he served as National Chairman in 2011.

He is the father of Falz, a popular Nigerian rapper, singer, online comedian and actor; and husband to Nigerian women’s rights activist Funmi Falana. He belongs to many professional bodies: West African Bar Association, Member, Nigerian Bar Association and Member, West African Bar Association, Member, Pan African Lawyers Union and Member, International Bar Association.