UPDATED: House of Reps members stage walk-out, chant ‘APC ole! (Thieves)’

From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja

Tensions erupted at the National Assembly complex on Tuesday as members of the House of Representatives stormed out of a closed-door session, shouting “Ole APC” (Thieves), openly accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of betrayal over contentious amendments to the Electoral Act.

The lawmakers earlier moved into a private session to reconcile conflicting provisions passed by both chambers on the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Amendment Bill, 2026.

However, proceedings broke down after what sources described as a push by members largely from the APC caucus to revoke the House’s earlier position on real-time electronic transmission of election results under Section 60(3).

In a chat with Daily Sun, some visibly aggrieved lawmakers disclosed that the walkout was triggered by attempts to align the House position with that of the Senate.

According to them, the House had earlier passed a provision mandating real-time transmission of results from polling units.

But during the closed session, efforts were allegedly made to:

Remove the “real-time” requirement from Section 60(3);

Reinstate the Senate’s version making Form EC8A the primary source for collation and declaration of results;

Provide that results be uploaded to INEC’s Result Viewing (IReV) portal only where there are no technical issues, thereby allowing manual fallback procedures.

Lawmakers from different political parties who staged the walkout insisted that altering the real-time transmission clause would undermine transparency and public confidence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Section 84 also contentious

Further tension reportedly arose over Section 84, dealing with the method of selection of party candidates.

Sources said proposals were advanced to explicitly allow political parties to determine their mode of candidate selection, whether direct or indirect primaries, a move some lawmakers feared could reopen internal party control battles.

Senate still in closed session

While the House plenary has since concluded, the Nigerian Senate remains in a closed-door session as of the time of filing this report, continuing deliberations over the Electoral Amendment Bill.

Security presence around the National Assembly complex remains heightened, as tensions mount over what is shaping up to be the most contentious electoral reform debate ahead of the 2027 polls.