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This is not the first time that the Nigerian Senate would be embroiled in credibility crisis arising from an amendment of Electoral Act. In 2002, there was an allegation from opposition lawmakers that the leadership of National Assembly led by Anyim Pius Anyim had fraudulently inserted a proviso to Section 80 of the 2002 Electoral Act to favour the then ruling party, PDP. It was so heated that Anyim escaped impeachment by whiskers. Meanwhile, the vexed issue was quenched when the controversial proviso was expunged through another round of review.
Our country also witnessed the same forgery disputation in the 2025 Tax Reform Laws passed by the National Assembly. The Minority Caucus of House of Representatives had raised an alarm that some versions of key provisions in the new tax reform laws that were gazetted and circulated, were altered and had “material discrepancies”. Coming at a time when the new tax initiatives were generating tensions among the citizenry who anticipated some fiscal holidays, Nigerians threw down the gauntlet on the incumbent government, and the controversy took a life of its own. Consequently, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Law, Taiwo Oyedele, had to issue a statement to clarify that there is a “strategic pause” on the implementation until the issues are sorted out.
Curiously, but unsurprisingly, the nation has returned to the same crossroad. The news in the public domain and a foul cry of the opposition lawmakers in the Senate concerning the manipulation of some words in the proposed 2026 Electoral Act have triggered a national outrage. The Senate leadership has been accused of inserting the word “transfer” instead of “transmission” of election results in real-time to INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV) at the polling units. This new insertion leaves the use of technology in transmitting election results at the discretion of INEC. Unfortunately, INEC is one of institutions with the lowest level of public trust in Nigeria.
But to put the issues in context, the lacuna of non-compulsory transmission of results electronically at the polling units was evidently manifest at the conclusion of the 2023 elections litigations. Judicial rulings and reports from development partners, international election observers, and local civil society groups pointed to the fact that something must be done to protect the integrity of electoral process which is largely undermined during collation of results. Technology may not be the silver bullet but it can substantially limit human interference and manipulation if it becomes part of the law. And that is the preponderance of opinion of majority of Nigerians collated at public hearings in the six geo-political zones of the country. Also, Senator Enyi Abaribe and the Leader of the Minority Caucus revealed that the resolution at the executive sessions concurred with electronic transmission of results in real time at the polling units.
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A few questions are therefore, necessary here. Why did the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Mohammed Munguno move a motion to alter what was agreed clause-by-clause at the executive session? Why was the motion speedily seconded by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin? Why did the Senate President resort to a seemingly suborned voice vote to pass the motion and avoided open debate of the contentious issues, ab initio? Why was the Senate spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu dismissively livid in defending the unpopular position in Arise Television? Why the sudden use of the gavel to drop the popular views generated from public hearings, affirmed in the Senate ad hoc committee’s report, and agreed in the two executive sessions? The impression here is that the Senate leadership cunningly persuaded the Senators to discuss the thorny issue at the executive sessions so that Nigerians would not take on lawmakers who oppose electronic transmission of results in real time, but they were later ambushed with a predetermined proposal when they thought it was all over.
Already, the Akpabio-led Senate has inadvertently unified the opposition elements and the civil society against the ruling party. Threats of protests in Abuja have enveloped the political firmament since last week. The NLC has threatened mass protests and election boycott if the Senate fails to correct the “legislative ambiguity.” The Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) has issued a warning to the effect that it wants nothing short of electronic transmission of results in real time. Even the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) that rarely dabbles into political matters has publicly declared full support for real time electronic transmission of election results, and dismissed the argument of poor network coverage, cybersecurity risks, and infrastructural deficiencies. Indeed, the argument of poor network coverage in some areas has been defeated by a study conducted by INEC in collaboration with the Nigeria Communications Commission in 2018 which confirmed that 98% of polling units across the country has internet connectivity. In the same vein, the ruling APC has just finished online registration of her members without glitches and complaints of low internet connectivity.
On a serious note, if the dangerous precedent is allowed to sail through, the huge resources and razzmatazz of public hearings across the country would amount to a charade of monumental proportion. The Senate should not treat Nigeria like a ‘banana republic’ where a tiny clique, in the words of American writer, Matthew Wilson, stay put by “subverting democracy to keep the cash flowing.” President Tinubu should not allow those who are afraid of losing elections to rubbish his legacy. Those pushing the incendiary agenda that will not fly should be called to order from behind-the-scenes. I believe that the ruling APC’s swelling with 30 states under its kitty and a good one year to the election, it can still retain power if the humongous resources at the disposal of FG, States and LGAs are prudently channeled to win over a large spectrum of Nigerians with good governance. As the Senate holds an emergency plenary today, the counsel of former senate president, David Mark to Akpabio should guide the Senate: pass the law and don’t speak for INEC.
