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Senate should put it in the law or resign, warns of mass resistance
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By Sunday Ani
Tension over Nigeria’s proposed Electoral Act amendment escalated yesterday as Prince Adewole Adebayo lambasted the National Assembly following the Senate’s decision to exclude real-time electronic transmission of election results from the bill.
Speaking in an interview, Adebayo, the Social Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, accused the Senate leadership of betraying the will of Nigerians and deliberately undermining the prospects of free and fair elections. He dismissed comments by Senate President Godswill Akpabio suggesting that public outrage over the decision was premature, describing the remark as irresponsible.
“Every stage of the legislative process attracts scrutiny,” Adebayo said. “The provision for electronic transmission was already there. Once you show the intention not to listen to the aspirations of the people, Nigerians have a right to react.”
He likened the Senate’s action to an act of provocation, saying, “The moment you pull out a gun at me, that is the time I need to react. You don’t say you haven’t pulled the trigger. By then, it is already too late,” he said.
Adebayo warned that lawmakers occupy the Senate chamber only by the mandate of the Nigerian people and risk losing legitimacy if they act contrary to public interest.
“If you want to serve somebody’s personal interest, do it in your private capacity,” he declared. “Not at a time when we are trying to pass one of the most important amendments of our generation.”
According to him, real-time electronic transmission of results is no longer optional but essential.
“We needed it years ago. At the very least, we need it now,” he said.
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In one of his statements, he warned Senate President Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and President Bola Tinubu, insisting that Nigerians would not back down on the issue.
“We are extremely serious and sensitive about electronic transmission,” he said. “If they want this democracy to end on this subject, we will give it to them. They must put it in the law, because that is what the people want, or they should resign and leave.”
Rejecting suggestions that public anger would fade within days, Adebayo vowed sustained resistance if the demand is ignored.
“If you don’t put electronic transmission in the law, this election will not hold and the government will leave. We will do whatever it takes legally and pragmatically, because they are not acting legally.”
Despite the tough rhetoric, he stressed that his position was rooted in love for the country, not chaos.
“I don’t mind contesting an election that is free and fair and losing,” he said. “I will salute the winner. But anyone dancing around electronic transmission has shown clearly that he or she does not want a free and fair election.”
However, he welcomed the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) recognition of the Sadiq Gombe–led leadership of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), describing it as a victory for the rule of law.
“The recognition is good for INEC,” he said, noting that the Commission had previously interfered in the party’s internal affairs. “It is the same executive we had then that we still have now.”
He clarified that internal disciplinary actions within the party, including a voluntary resignation and the removal of two suspended officials, were never INEC’s concern.
“We went to court and now INEC has agreed to obey the law and treat us fairly,” he added. “There is no faction in the party.”
As debate over the Electoral Act intensifies, Adebayo’s comments are a sign that the battle over electronic transmission of results is far from over and may equally become a defining test for Nigeria’s democracy.
