New electoral law not for noisy few — Akpabio

By Lawrence Agbo

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has expressed strong satisfaction with the newly signed Electoral Act, stating that it is not for “few people who make noise. Noise is different from lawmaking.

The Senate President, speaking at the State House following President Tinubu’s signing of the bill into law, added that the National Assembly was pleased and content that it had been able to understand the desires and intentions of the vast majority of Nigerians. Making noise is not the same as making laws.

“Not those who are politically motivated, not a few people who make noise,” he said.

He pointed out that they avoided excessive outside intervention while taking into consideration the distinctive aspects of the Nigerian environment.

Akpabio emphasized that every vote cast by Nigerians will now actually count and said the new law would bring more transparency, prosperity, and fairness to future elections.

He claims that the official acceptance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System result viewer, or IReV, as a valid and verifiable record of polling unit results is one of the most lauded features of the modified Act.

He clarified that if connectivity is restored, election results that were transmitted electronically, even in places with poor network coverage, will eventually appear on the IReV portal. As they proceed from polling places to collation centers, Nigerians would be able to identify any manipulation or tampering of the results, he claimed.

For the first time since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, electronic transmission of results has been officially recognized under law, according to the Senate President, who called this a historic accomplishment.

Akpabio also emphasized other significant changes included in the new Act, such as clauses that enable members of political parties to cast direct ballots for the candidates of their choice in primaries instead of relying on a small group of delegates to make such choices.

In order to avoid a situation where a candidate with a significantly lower number of votes is automatically declared the winner, he said, the legislation now mandates that a new election be held in the case that a judge disqualifies the winner.

Over the past week, the bill has sparked intense debate among politicians and well-known Nigerians regarding how to transmit election results ahead of the general elections in 2027.