The Senate’s approval of the Electoral Act on Wednesday prompted significant criticism, indicating concerns about public confidence in the electoral process leading up to the 2027 election. The version ratified by the Senate differs from that of the House of Representatives, and both chambers are anticipated to reconcile their positions when their joint committee convene on Wednesday.

Yesterday, the Senate turned down an amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the 2026 Electoral Amendment Bill, which would have required compulsory electronic transmission of election results from polling units. This followed the clause-by-clause consideration and passage of the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal & Enactment) Bill, 2026.

The proposed amendment in 60(3) states that “The Commission shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, and such transmission shall be done simultaneously with the physical collation of results.”

The Senate adopted the existing provision of the Electoral Act, 2022, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”

The rejection came after Senator Tahir Monguno (Borno, APC) moved to remove the transmission aspect but keep the original provision.

The House of Representatives had earlier, during the passage of the electoral amendment bill, approved clause 60 (3), which mandated result shall be electronically transmitted from the polling units to the IREV portal.

The Nigerian Senate’s passage has sparked widespread public outcry, primarily due to the rejection of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results. The criticisms cut across several strata of society.

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, condemned the move as a “deliberate assault on electoral transparency” and a strategy to favour incumbents in the 2027 elections.

The African Democratic Congress alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) used its majority to “weaken electoral laws” out of fear of free elections.

Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, says the Senate has betrayed the trust of Nigerians and made a mess of all the gains they have made. He said on Wednesday when he appeared as a guest in an interview on theArise Television programme News Night.

Itodo was reacting to the Senate rejecting real-time electronic transmission of election results, warning that it is a dangerous retreat.

Reacting, Itodo said, “The Senate has betrayed the trust of Nigerians and made a mess of all the gains we have made. This is a dangerous retreat from some of the lofty reforms that were introduced by the 2022 Electoral Act.

“I completely disagree with the Senate president. He’s just being clever by half, because what he is saying is that the ruling of the Supreme Court in the 2023 elections was very clear that electronic coalition or transmission was unknown to the law, and INEC cannot, by virtue of its guidelines, introduce electronic transmission.

“And so what the National Assembly did, particularly the two committees in the National Assembly was to take that judicial pronouncement and update the law, because when the extant law says it shall be by a procedure determined by INEC, INEC went ahead in its guideline, determined the procedure, but the court now said, no, you have to insert it in the law and the report before them, because I was part of the technical committee that was part of this entire process.

“What the House passed was that electronic transmission will be part of this process. In fact, the report also mentioned the iREV. So, the Senate president is lying to Nigerians, because that’s not what was provided in the report. It was clear electronic transmission of the result.

“But that’s not the only thing. One of the things that the Senate has also done is introduce some draconian provisions that will undermine the preparations for the 2027 elections, especially logistics. What they have done is to compress the time frame.

“If this is the outcome of a thorough job, then I think that the Senate owes Nigerians a lot of apologies.”

But Senate President Godswill Akpabio clarified that the Senate did not reject the electronic transmission of election results during consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.

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