Chidi Odinkalu calls for citizens’ participation in election petitions

By Joy Baba-Yesufu

Prominent human rights lawyer and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, has called for a fundamental change in Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence by demanding the inclusion of voters, the real stakeholders in post-election legal proceedings.

Speaking in Abuja during the launch of his new book, When Judges Topple the People, Prof. Odinkalu condemned the current legal framework that limits the right to challenge election outcomes solely to political parties and candidates. He argued that this disenfranchises the very people whose votes are at stake.

“Our votes are not negotiable,” Odinkalu declared. “If it’s about our votes, then the people, ordinary citizens should have a legal right to participate in the election petition process. You cannot exclude the electorate and say it’s only the candidates and parties that matter in court. We are the ones who queued to vote.”

The book, a trenchant critique of judicial interference in democratic processes, accuses the judiciary of complicity in subverting the will of the people through questionable election rulings. According to Odinkalu, it is unacceptable that a small circle of judges can determine electoral outcomes without accountability to the citizens affected by their decisions.

“I feel violated as a citizen when judges determine my vote and I’m told to just accept it. Lawyers like myself will tell you the Supreme Court has spoken but the Supreme Court doesn’t vote. The people do. Supreme Court judges don’t vote so defend your votes” he said.

He further likened the exclusion of citizens in election petition cases to the fate of local governments in constitutional disputes. “In cases of local government autonomy, the Federal and State governments argue, but local governments the real victims are not even invited. The same thing happens with voters during election disputes.”

Odinkalu called for a national rethink on the limits of citizen participation in Nigeria’s democratic process. “We don’t have to win the case. But if the people show up at the courts en masse, even without being parties to the case, it sends a powerful political signal. We must organize, protest, and insist on our right to defend our votes.”

He urged Nigerians to build a political movement that places citizens at the centre of electoral justice. “Victory doesn’t have to be judicial; sometimes, it must be political. We need to put ourselves in the conversation not just as voters on election day, but as defenders of democracy every day after.”