A few days ago, no senator could have predicted that lawmakers would be running helter-skelter to avoid the wrath of Nigerians following the passage of the Electoral Act amendment. From labour unions to civil society groups, opposition movements and legal bodies, public anger has risen sharply over what many see as a deliberate attempt to weaken electoral safeguards ahead of 2027, ADEBAYO FOLORUNSHO-FRANCIS reports
For years, electoral reform has occupied a sensitive place in Nigeria’s democratic journey. Every election cycle renews old debates about credibility, transparency and trust, while every attempt at reform exposes the deep fault lines between political power and public expectation.
Last week, those tensions erupted once again when the Senate passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, setting off a wave of protests, threats of mass action and accusations that lawmakers were deliberately rolling back hard-won gains from the 2022 Electoral Act.
What began as a routine clause-by-clause consideration inside the Red Chamber quickly snowballed into a national controversy, forcing senators into defensive mode and compelling the leadership of the National Assembly to announce an emergency sitting amid unprecedented public backlash.
At the heart of the controversy was Section 60 of the bill dealing with the transmission of election results. Senators voted down a recommendation by the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters that sought to compel presiding officers to upload polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s IREV portal “in real time.”
Instead, the Red Chamber retained the provision contained in the 2022 Electoral Act, which mandates electronic transmission of results in a manner prescribed by INEC after votes have been counted and announced at the polling unit.
Under the retained provision, the presiding officer is required to count votes at the polling unit, record the scores on prescribed forms, announce the results publicly, and transmit the results electronically to the appropriate collation centre as directed by the Commission. Copies of the result forms are to be issued to polling agents and security personnel where available. Any presiding officer who willfully contravenes the provision is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N500,000 or imprisonment for a minimum of six months.
The rejected amendment would have gone further by expressly compelling real-time upload of results to the IREV portal immediately after the signing of Form EC8A, with stiffer penalties attached. Senators opposing the proposal argued that the phrase “real time” could be problematic, especially in areas with weak or non-existent network coverage, and could expose elections to avoidable legal disputes.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the electronic transmission of election results was not mandatory under the Electoral Act 2022. The court affirmed that the INEC had the legal authority and discretion to determine the specific mode for transmitting and collating election results.
The apex court clarified that the INEC Result Viewing portal was not a collation system and was intended only for public viewing because the 2022 Electoral Act did not recognise it as a collation instrument.
The ruling emphasised that the Electoral Act 2022 did not explicitly mandate “electronic transmission” only; rather, it allowed INEC to prescribe any manner it deemed fit, which might include manual or electronic methods.
This decision was part of the final judgment dismissing appeals by Atiku Abubakar (PDP) and Peter Obi (Labour Party), thereby affirming the victory of President Bola Tinubu.
Among other notable changes approvedlast week was the reduction of the statutory period for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish a notice of election from 360 days to 180 days. The decision followed the adoption of an amendment moved by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Tahir Monguno.
The Senate also formally removed the smart card reader from the electoral framework and replaced it with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), while retaining provisions for electronic transmission of election results. But it was Section 60 of the bill—dealing with the transmission of results—that would ignite the fiercest controversy.
Opponents of the rejected amendment argued that the phrase “real time” could be problematic, especially in areas with poor network coverage, and could open the door to avoidable legal disputes.
However, as news of the decision filtered onto social media, outrage followed almost instantly. Claims spread rapidly that the Senate had “rejected electronic transmission of results,” prompting the Senate leadership to step in. Following the backlash, Senate President Godswill Akpabio dismissed reports that the chamber had rejected electronic transmission of results, describing such claims as misleading.
“Distinguished colleagues, the social media is already awash with reports that the Senate has literally rejected electronic transmission of results. That is not true. What we did was to retain the electronic transmission which has been in the act and was used in 2022.
“So please, do not allow people to confuse you. If you are in doubt, we will make our final votes and proceedings available to you if you apply. This Senate under my watch has not rejected the electronic transmission of results. It is in my interest as a participant in the next election for such to be done. So please don’t go with the crowd.
“We have retained what was in the previous provision by way of amendment. That was all we did. The previous previous has made allowance for electronic transmission. So it is still there as part of our law. We cannot afford to be going backwards,” he pleaded.
Similarly, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu, described the disagreement as largely semantic, stressing that electronic transmission of results remained part of the law.
According to him, both electronic and manual records would continue to serve as correlating evidence in the event of disputes.
Yet, for many Nigerians, the issue went beyond semantics.
Tempers also flared briefly inside the Senate over the composition of the harmonisation committee for the bill. Tension rose after Akpabio announced the initial membership without including Senator Niyi Adegbonmire, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, and Senator Simon Lalong, Chairman of the Committee on Electoral Matters.
Former Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume, objected, saying, “It is wrong to set a harmonisation committee without them.”
Lalong reacted sharply, saying, “No, it is not necessary. Please, I am not interested.”
As the commotion continued, Akpabio intervened, saying, “There is no reason to be shouting.”
After further consultations, both Adegbonmire and Lalong were added to the committee, with Adegbonmire named as chairman.
Outside the chamber, anger hardened into threats of protest. The Nigeria Labour Congress warned of potential nationwide protests and even election boycotts over what it described as confusion and contradictory positions by the Senate. According to the NLC, Nigerians deserved clarity, stressing that “Nigerians deserve a transparent system where votes are not only counted but seen to be counted.”
The union warned that legislative ambiguity could institutionalise doubt within the electoral system and demanded an immediate, unambiguous explanation of the final provisions.
“Failure to add electronic transmission in real time will lead to mass action before, during and after the election, or total boycott of the election,” the Congress said.
The Obidient Movement Worldwide also threatened mass protests, warning that the Senate’s decision could undermine the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
Its National Coordinator, Dr. Yunusa Tanko, said, “The Obidient Movement vehemently condemns the Nigerian Senate’s recent decision to reject the mandatory electronic transmission of election results.
Recalling the controversies of the 2023 polls, Tanko said, “We vividly recall the turmoil, disputes, and widespread manipulation that characterised the 2023 general elections—events that stemmed directly from the failure to fully implement electronic transmission of results.”
The movement called for a peaceful march to the National Assembly and urged Nigerians and the international community to resist what it described as democratic backsliding.
While activists demanded stronger safeguards, election experts were divided. Former INEC National Commissioner, Dr. Mustapha Lecky, argued that Nigeria lacked both the legal and technical capacity for real-time electronic transmission.
“I think it doesn’t really make sense to me that we should be talking about instantaneous transmission of results live as it is happening from the polling area,” he said. “Are we doing electronic voting? We are very far away from it.”
Lecky maintained that manual voting and counting still defined Nigeria’s elections and warned of cyber risks if electronic transmission was pushed without adequate infrastructure.
But a former INEC Director, Nick Dazang, took a sharply different view. He described the Senate’s decision as an affront to public will and recalled that the Supreme Court had identified gaps in the law following the 2023 elections.
According to him, the Senate’s refusal to mandate electronic transmission amounted to exploiting loopholes to perpetuate electoral manipulation and deepen voter apathy.
The Nigerian Bar Association also faulted the Senate’s action. NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, told the association’s National Executive Council that lawmakers had rejected a change aimed at compelling electronic transmission of results.
The position was taken in the executive report presented by the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, at the National Executive Council meeting of the association held in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Thursday.
The association warned that ambiguity would continue to fuel disputes and post-election litigation.
Similarly, SERAP petitioned the Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate alleged irregularities in the passage of the bill, accusing lawmakers of removing provisions without due process.
As outrage mounted, senators reportedly began receiving angry calls after their phone numbers surfaced online. Some reportedly switched off their phones following threats and verbal abuse from irate citizens.
“The reactions were unpredictable. Many were laying curses and asking them, “how do you sleep at night after this action?,” one of the sources confided in our reporter.
Under mounting pressure, the Senate announced an emergency plenary sitting for Tuesday, February 10, 2026.
“The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has directed the reconvening of plenary for an emergency sitting on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026,” the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, said.
Whether the Senate will reconsider its decision remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: electoral reform has once again exposed the fragile trust between Nigeria’s lawmakers and the people they represent—and the path to 2027 promises to be anything but quiet.
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