Senate stalls consideration of Electoral Act Amendment Bill over lawmakers’ concerns

From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

Senate yesterday again stepped down consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill after lawmakers raised fresh concerns and observations during plenary.

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced that the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Legal Matters, chaired by Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, has been mandated to re-examine the bill and return with a harmonised report.

Akpabio said the committee would review the contentious provisions with a view to “galvanise and distill all the opinions and grievances of senators” and submit its findings to the Senate when plenary resumes on Tuesday.

The proposed amendments to the Electoral Act include the introduction of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV). The bill also seeks to insert a new subsection (2) to Section 77, which would criminalise the failure of presiding officers to sign and stamp ballot papers as well as officially announced results, among other changes.

To fast-track consensus, Akpabio directed additional senators to join the Judiciary and Legal Matters Committee to resolve outstanding disagreements and produce an acceptable draft. Those named are Senators Adamu Aliero, Aminu Tambuwal, Danjuma Goje, Adams Oshiomhole, Tony Nwoye and Titus Zam. The Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, will serve as secretary to the enlarged committee.

Emphasising the urgency of the assignment, Akpabio said the committee has “48 hours or at most 3 days within which to conclude this assignment and come up with results before the next plenary which is on Tuesday.”

Earlier in the day, senators had gone into a closed-door session for clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, a process that lasted more than three hours. Following Akpabio’s announcement on the review process, the Senate adjourned plenary until February 3, 2026.

The Electoral Act stipulates that all amendments to the law must be concluded 360 days before the commencement of the next general election.