The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Joash Amupitan, has pledged to end the culture of excessive pre-election litigations in Nigeria.
Amupitan, who spoke at the 56th Annual National Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers at the University of Abuja, on Monday, disclosed that one of his goals is to “end the courtroom warfare” that often begins long before ballots are cast.
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He stated that INEC would no longer operate a system where over 1,000 pre-election cases were recorded ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“That is not democracy. That is litigation by other means,” Amupitan said.
“If political parties obey their constitutions, respect the Electoral Act and align with the Nigerian constitution, the avalanche of pre-election cases will collapse. My goal is simple: to make the law an instrument of change, not chaos.
“My desire is that when we get the law right, even the losers will be the first to congratulate the winner. That is when we can truly say our democracy has matured.
“We cannot continue to allow the courts to determine our elections. Elections must be won at the polling units, not in the courtroom,” he added.