Public anger and dissatisfaction have continued to greet the Nigerian Senate’s latest move to amend the Electoral Act without providing for compulsory electronic transmission of election results.
Criticisms grew louder on Tuesday after the Senate plenary, with many Nigerians accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the 10th National Assembly of deliberately weakening the country’s electoral process ahead of the 2027 polls.
The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday amended the Electoral Act to permit the electronic transmission of election results, while simultaneously creating a major loophole that allows manual result sheets to prevail where electronic transmission fails.
The amendment was adopted during plenary proceedings with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, presiding.
Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are required to electronically transmit results to the IREV portal after the completion of voting.
However, the amendment provides that where electronic transmission is unsuccessful due to communication or network failure, the manual result sheet — Form EC8A — shall become the primary basis for collation and declaration of results.
This came after the upper chamber had earlier last week rejected the compulsory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s, (INEC), Result Viewing Portal, (IREV).
The proposal, however, has ignited serious concerns among Nigerians, particularly over the reliance on Form EC8A as the primary source of election results, where disputes arise.
At the heart of the controversy is the claim by many critics that the proposed amendment effectively waters down the gains of electoral reforms, especially provisions relating to electronic transmission of results.
Civil society groups, opposition figures, and legal experts, following the development, argue that the Senate’s position signals a dangerous return to the era of manual manipulation.
