Amid public outcry and confusion over the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday, ranking senators led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe on Thursday moved to set the record straight, insisting that the upper chamber did not jettison electronic transmission of election results.
Briefing journalists at the National Assembly, Abaribe said reports suggesting that the Senate voted against electronic transmission or reverted to manual processes were incorrect and misleading.
“Yesterday, the Senate did not — I repeat — did not pass transfer of results, which was in the 2022 Act,” Abaribe said. “What we passed, and which the Senate President himself clarified while sitting on his chair, is the transmission of results. And I need to make this very clear.”
He stressed that the distinction between “transfer” and “transmission” had been wrongly interpreted, fuelling the impression that the Senate had taken Nigeria backwards on electoral reforms.
According to him, senators were compelled to address the media because the Senate’s action had been misunderstood.
“We felt that it would be necessary to make a clarification of what happened yesterday, to put the record straight,” he said.
Abaribe said every senator was conscious of the public trust placed on the National Assembly by Nigerians.
“Every one of us who is a senator, who has the privilege to represent a senatorial district, came here under the trust of their senatorial districts,” he said. “Each one of us infused in himself or herself a public trust handed to us by Nigerians to do the absolute best for Nigeria.”
He explained that the provision for electronic transmission of results was not an afterthought but the product of an extensive legislative process involving both chambers of the National Assembly and key stakeholders.
“There was a joint committee of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, made up of members of the electoral committees in both chambers,” Abaribe said. “These joint committees had several retreats, both in Abuja and elsewhere, and each of those retreats was done with INEC and civil society organisations.”
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He added: “Everyone agreed, and at the end of the retreats, that electronic transmission of results was the way to go. That agreement was reflected in the reports laid before both the House and the Senate.”
Abaribe dismissed claims that any clause supporting electronic transmission was removed at any stage of the Senate process.
“There was no going backwards,” he said. “As the Senate President reiterated yesterday, we are not going backwards; rather, we are going home.”
He disclosed that after the report of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters was presented, the Senate constituted an ad hoc committee to further review it.
“It was the report of that ad hoc committee, alongside the report of the Senate electoral committee and the executive session we held, that led to our agreement on Clause 60(3), which provides for electronic transmission of results, including real-time transmission,” he said.
He noted that confusion arose during plenary because of the crowded chamber and multiple conversations, prompting some senators to seek further clarification after the session.
“We went back individually to find out exactly what was done, and we were reassured,” Abaribe said. “The Senate President himself confirmed – and you have the videos – that we passed electronic transmission of results.”
On the next steps, Abaribe explained that a harmonisation committee had been set up to reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill but stressed that the process was not yet concluded.
“After our plenary session yesterday, we adjourned but did not come back to pass the Votes and Proceedings,” he said. “That is our rule, and you all here know it.”
He clarified that the harmonisation committee could not properly commence work until the Senate formally adopted its Votes and Proceedings.
“The document we take to harmonisation is the one passed by us and ratified in the Votes and Proceedings,” he said. “So there is still one more step left for the Senate to take.”
Abaribe assured Nigerians that senators would insist that the electronic transmission provision remained intact.
“After we pass the Votes and Proceedings — and we are going to insist and ensure that what we passed, which is electronic transmission, is there — then the harmonisation committee will meet,” he said.
He explained that the harmonisation process was straightforward.
“What happens in harmonisation is simple,” Abaribe said. “You either adopt the House version or you adopt the Senate version, and that is what will be forwarded as a single document for presidential assent.”
The senators said the clarification was necessary to reassure Nigerians that the Senate remained committed to credible, transparent and technology-driven elections.
Other Senators present at the briefing include, Austin Akobundu (PDP – Abia Central) Peter Jiya (PDP – Niger South), Ireti Kingibe (ADC – FCT), Victor Umeh (LP – Anambra Central), Binos Yaroe (PDP – Adamawa South), Kabeeb Mustapha (PDP – Jigawa South West, Khalid Mustapha (PDP – Kaduna North), Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (APC – Nasarawa South), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (PDP – Sokoto South), Tony Nwoye (LP – Anambra North), Abdul Ningi (PDP – Bauchi Central), Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP – Kogi Central).
