By virtue of the legislative powers vested in the National Assembly by section 4 (1) of the 1999 constitution, the Senate and the House of Representatives are responsible for making laws for peace,order and good governance including conduct of credible, free, fair and transparent elections in Nigeria. However, following persistent calls by majority of Nigerians and lovers of democracy for electoral reforms to sanitize Nigeria’s electoral system, the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Election Maters embarked on a comprehensive review of the Electoral Act 2022 a few months ago. After conscientious and extensive deliberations, the House of Representatives passed the Electoral Amendment Act( Repeal and Enactment) Bill 2026 in December 2025 while the Senate prevaricated on the amendment until Thursday, January 29,2026 when it constituted a seven-man adhoc committee charged with the responsibility of harmonizing the inputs of the two committees. The adhoc committee was directed to complete and submit its report to the Senate on Tuesday, February 3,2026 for final consideration.
The Senate passed the Electoral Amendment Bill on Wednesday, February 4,2026 after heated debates on the real -time electronic transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission. In the end, the Senate opted to retain section sixty of the Electoral Act 2022 which requires INEC Presiding Officers to count votes, announce results at the polling units and transmit the results after signing and stamping form EC8A in a manner as prescribed by the electoral umpire. The Senate rejected the proposed amendment by the Committees on Electoral Matters that INEC Presiding Officers should transmit election results electronically from the polling units to INEC Results Viewing Portal in real-time after counting the votes, signing form EC8A which must be countersigned by the polling agents. Viewed from whichever side of the coin, the Senate’s retention of this contentious clause in the Electoral Act 2022 as against the real-time clause contained in the report of the two committees on Election Maters is an open cheque to INEC to adopt any option of transmission of election results it deems fit in 2027 general elections. Other amendments to the Electoral Act by the Senate include reduction in election notification timeframe, replacement of the Smart Card Reader with Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, review of sanctions and punishment for unlawful possession of voter’s card and post-election challenges. Other salient areas Nigerians are demanding to deepen the nation’s democracy were not addressed. The bill is expected to pass through two legislative stages namely the Votes Proceedings and the Conference Committee. Thereafter, it will be transmitted to the President for assent. The moment the President assents to the bill, it automatically becomes a law.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s rejection of the electronic transmission of results by INEC has generated reactions from opposition political parties and prominent Nigerians who described the Senate position as conservative and undemocratic. They earlier accused the Senate of prevarication and deliberately delaying the passage of the bill citing the time the House of Representatives passed the same bill. Although the Senate Minority Caucus has absolved the Senate of the allegation of rejecting or removing the real-time transmission of election results,
It has to be stated unequivocally that the non-inclusion of electronic transmission of results in the on-going amendments to the Electoral Amendment Bill is a calculated and deliberate move to entrench electoral malfeasance in Nigeria. This is a bad omen as it portends great danger to Nigeria’s democracy. Any amendment to the Electoral Act without a provision for electronic transmission of results tantamounts to sabotage to sustainable democratic governance and the electoral system, infringement on fundamental human rights of Nigerians to freely elect the people they wish to govern or represent them and erosion of confidence of the electorate in the electoral process and the election management body. To, therefore, ensure effective and efficient electoral administration and management in Nigeria, there is an urgent need to change the current fraudulent electoral system based on manual collation of results to electronic transmission of results. Nigeria should jettison manual collation of results because of monumental infractions associated with the process. It is an international embarrassment. The advantages of electronic transmission of results are copious and innumerable. In addition, any amendment to the Electoral Act without repositioning or reorganizing INEC with a view to making the commission perpetually independent, non partisan, neutral and transparent in the conduct of future elections in Nigeria is not a welcome development. Similarly, any amendment to the Electoral Act without taking away from the President the power to appoint INEC Chairman, Resident Electoral Commissioners and other categories of personnel is an exercise in futility. Any amendment to the Electoral Act without ensuring the neutrality and non-partisanship of security agencies before, during and after elections is anti-democracy. Most importantly, any amendment to the Electoral Act without creating a national agency to regulate electoral offences, arrest, investigate, prosecute and convict electoral offenders is inappropriate and retrogressive. In the same vein, any amendment without putting a stop to the rate at which some politicians defect to political parties with people’s votes or mandate after winning elections is a disservice to democratic governance. This has become necessary because political defection is gradually driving Nigeria to one-party state.
Any amendment to the Electoral Act without without judicial reforms is anti-democracy. The judiciary which is the bedrock of democracy should be reformed and transformed so as to rekindle public trust, ensure timely determination and resolution of of electoral disputes, dispensation of justice without fear or favour, ill-will or affection and swearing in of elected candidates after disposing petitions pending against them at the tribunals and the courts. It is the expectation of Nigerians that the Electoral Act 2022 would have been amended in such a way that the burden of proof of electoral malpractices should be the responsibility of the election management body instead of aggrieved candidates who contested elections and proceeded to the tribunals or courts for justice.
Finally, without electoral reforms, there must be voter apathy in the 2027 general elections. The current criticisms and controversies surrounding the real-time electronic transmission of election results, backlashes and vilifications against the Senate and Senate leadership are enough sirens and indications that majority of Nigerians are not in support of the decision made by the red chamber. It will no longer be business as usual. The Senate should do the needful before constituting the Conference Committee where are the contentious clauses will be reconciled before presidential assent.
