Protesters opposing the National Assembly’s rejection of real-time electronic transmission of election results claimed law enforcement used tear gas on them during their demonstration.

Protesters gathered at the National Assembly on Tuesday, just before lawmakers—especially members of the House of Representatives—met to discuss electoral issues before harmonising the bill with the Senate. The protesters called for real-time reporting to be made mandatory in future elections in the country.

The protesters were joined by the former Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Adewole Adebayo; ex-minister Oby Ezekwesili; and the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, who were sighted among the protesters.

The protesters who had begun their agitation against the amendment of the electoral bill passed by the Senate were seen carrying placards bearing inscriptions such as “Don’t alter the bill; pass it.” “Make electronic transmission mandatory now,” and chanting “We no go gree o, Akpabio, we no go gree,” as they urged the House of Representatives to retain its position on compulsory real-time transmission of election results.

While the protest was going on, there were videos of protesters fleeing for safety as police tried to forcefully disperse them with tear gas, flames filling the air at the protest site, and protesters dispersing before reconverging.

Addressing the resistance of the law enforcement agents and the spraying of tear gas on the protesters, Omoyele Sowore, the former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, condemned the police for spraying tear gas on peaceful protesters who were harmless. He further said the protest is in solidarity with the Nigerian citizens who want nothing but transparency in the country’s electoral system.

“The quest for participatory democracy is fundamentally incompatible with criminal politicians. Today, we stood in solidarity with the organisers of the Mandatory Transmission of Election Results protest at the National Assembly. As usual, the anti-people Nigeria Police Force was deployed not to protect citizens but to attack peaceful protesters, unprovoked.”

A clergyman from Plateau State named Prophet Isa El-Buba, who witnessed the demonstration and was also tear-gassed, talked about his experience.

“You can imagine me; I just came back from the States (US). And you can imagine Nigerians in a peaceful demonstration, and you (the police) are pumping tear gas? Just imagine. Just imagine,” El-Buba said.

“This request is a simple request by the people. A simple request by the citizens. And all that they need to do is to listen to the citizens and not to come and threaten the citizens.

“These are the younger generation. I was passing, and I saw these younger people standing for the future of a nation, and what this country, what these people (the police) can do is to pump tear gas.”

The demonstration against the lawmaker’s decision to put a caveat on the mandatory electronic transmission of results, which the Senate endorsed. The upper chamber amended and accepted the law, which included the INEC’s Result Viewing Portal but also retained manual collation as a backup in the event of technical failure. The protesters wanted the position of the House, which is the real-time transmission, to be passed into law. However, the House today has rescinded its previous stance and agreed with the upper chamber

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