Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and human rights lawyer, has faulted the so-called “Financial barriers” in Nigeria’s political system, asserting that the high costs involved in running for president effectively prevent most citizens from participating.
Falana, who raised this concern during a recent public discussion on electoral reforms, which started trending on Thursday, March 26, warned that such barriers undermine the principle of equal political participation.
The human rights lawyer questioned the fairness of political requirements that demand enormous financial capacity from aspirants, arguing that Nigerian laws are often shaped by the interests of political elites rather than the public.
According to him, the financial realities of contesting elections in Nigeria favour only the wealthy while shutting out professionals, workers, and young people.
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He said, “All the young people are talking about, many people, is about electronic transmission of results from the polling unit to the, you know, non-localisation centre to the central server of INEC. It’s gone beyond that.
“If you look at that law, it’s saying if you want to contest for the Presidency of Nigeria, you must have 10 billion naira, or I think 5 billion naira. That already excludes professors, workers, lawyers and the majority of Nigerians who are not billionaires.
“So the law is not neutral. It’s made by people in the National Assembly, who though are representing us, but who at the end of the day are representing the bourgeoisie.
“So, that is the nature of law. So, when you say rule of law, you say whose law? Whose rule? So, we go to court to defend the law
“There are laws that, through struggle, members of the ruling class have been forced to enact. We go to court to defend those ones. And then for the bad ones, obnoxious laws, we challenge them in court and in our campaign.
“So, I didn’t start defending the rule of law as a lawyer. I was classed, I was conscious of my role in society, you know, and therefore I went to court, not for judgement, not just to ask for judgment in my cases. I want justice,” he added.
