The proposal for real-time electronic upload of election results was rejected yesterday by the Senate during consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment.
After hours of meetings, executive sessions and deliberations, the Senate approved sweeping changes to electoral timelines, sanctions for electoral offences, voter accreditation and post-election dispute resolution.
The amendment passed by the Senate, after being streamlined with the version earlier passed by the House of Representatives and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will replace the Electoral Act 2022 under which the 2023 elections were conducted.
The passage of the bill by the Senate was followed by controversies, at the heart of which is Clause 60 of the bill dealing with the transmission of election results.
Critics and opposition figures confused the term “real-time upload of polling unit results” with “transmission of results.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the plenary, clarified that the Senate never rejected the electronic transmission of results.
Although the bill was passed last December by the House of Representatives, the Senate, which reconvened last week, completed the process yesterday.
The National Assembly had come under intense criticism for the delay in passing the bill, which is critical to preparations for next year’s polls.
Following the passage by the Senate, the next stage is the harmonisation of the versions approved by both chambers by the Conference Committee.
Senators voted to retain the provision contained in the 2022 Electoral Act, which mandates the transmission of results in a manner prescribed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), rather than compel presiding officers to upload results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal “in real time.”
Under the retained provision, “the Presiding Officer shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form to be prescribed by the Commission,” which “shall be signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by the candidates or their polling agents where available.”
The presiding officer is also required to “count and announce the result at the polling unit” and “transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
Any presiding officer who “willfully contravenes any provision of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N500,000 or imprisonment for a term of at least six months.”
The rejected amendment would have expressly required that “the Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time” after the signing of Form EC8A.
Senators opposed to the proposal pointed out that the phrase “real time” was vague, impracticable in areas with poor or non-existent network coverage, and capable of opening elections to needless legal disputes.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Adeyemi Adaramodu, explained that the disagreement was more about wording than substance, stressing that the Senate did not remove the electronic transmission of results.
He said: “On transmission, we said we are retaining Section 60 as it has always been. Results must be transmitted electronically and made available to the public.
“At the same time, the physical forms (Form EC8A and others) will still serve as evidence.
“They will remain evidence. So we still have correlating evidence: electronic transmission and physical documents. We have not removed electronic transmission.”
Adaramodu warned against what he described as over-legalisation of the electoral process through ambiguous language.
He said: “When we talk about real time, how do we define real time? In some places, after voting, the network may not be available, and you may need to travel for one or two hours before you can transmit.
“So, can you still insist on five minutes? We cannot subject this matter to semantics. What matters is that results reach the electorate electronically for verification.”
Akpabio also dismissed allegations that the Senate had voted against electronic transmission altogether, describing them as false.
He said: “That is not true. What we did was to retain the electronic transmission that existed in the 2022 Act. Retaining that provision means electronic transmission remains part of our law. Under my watch, the Senate has not rejected electronic transmission of election results.”
Akpabio added: “Contrary to reports, the Senate has not rejected electronic transmission of results. Electronic transmission has always been part of our laws. We are moving forward, not backwards.”
The Senate also approved major changes to the electoral calendar.
Lawmakers reduced the election notice period from 360 days to 180 days before the expiration of the tenure of the current administration.
Consequently, political parties will now submit their lists of candidates not later than 90 days before a general election, while the deadline for nomination of candidates was also cut to 90 days.
On voter accreditation, the Senate formally removed the smart card reader from the electoral framework and replaced it with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), while retaining the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) as the sole means of voter identification.
The proposal to allow alternative forms of identification, including electronically generated or downloadable voter cards with QR codes, was rejected.
The Senate also reviewed penalties for electoral offences, increasing the fine for unlawful possession of voters’ cards from N500,000 to N5 million.
However, it rejected the proposal seeking to impose a 10-year ban on individuals convicted of vote buying and other electoral offences.
Senator Asuquo Ekpeyong, who led the opposition’s resistance to the proposal, argued that the decade-long ban was excessive.
He was supported by Akpabio and the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, who favoured stiffer fines and prison terms without a political ban.
Explaining the motive behind tougher financial sanctions, Adaramodu said: “When fines are as low as N50,000, people can simply dip their hands into their pockets and pay immediately, and that encourages the commission of offences. So, we reviewed that approach.”
One of the far-reaching amendments concerns candidate disqualification and post-election disputes.
Under the new provisions, political parties will no longer be allowed to replace candidates disqualified after an election.
Where a candidate returned as elected is found not to have scored the majority of valid votes, a rerun election will be conducted, excluding both the disqualified candidate and the sponsoring party.
Adaramodu said the amendment was driven by concerns about fairness and democratic legitimacy.
He said: “There are three key issues here. First is the issue of the declaration of winners. Second is candidacy and screening.
“If a candidate is screened and later disqualified, and the party is told to replace that person, it means the party had control over that illegality. That will drastically reduce pre-election cases.”
Adaramodu added: “Take a case where a candidate scores 800,000 votes and the runner-up scores 10,000 votes. If the tribunal later disqualifies the candidate with 800,000 votes, do we then allow someone with 10,000 votes to represent the entire community? That person was not elected.
“What we now propose is a rerun election, excluding the disqualified candidate and excluding the party that presented that disqualified candidate. That is more equitable.”
Akpabio praised senators for their endurance during the prolonged session, noting that the chamber remained full beyond normal sitting hours.
He said: “Let me state clearly: there was no deliberate attempt by the Senate to delay the amendment of the Electoral Act. Our intention has always been to do this painstakingly, ensuring that the outcome reflects the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.”
The Senate President announced the setting up of a conference committee to harmonise the Senate’s version of the bill with that passed by the House of Representatives.
The committee, chaired by Senator Simon Lalong, has as members Senators Adamu Aliero, Adeniyi Adegbomire, Orji Uzor Kalu, Abba Moro, Asuquo Ekpeyong, Aminu Abbas and Tokunbo Abiru.
Akpabio said the committee had been mandated to conclude its work within the month to enable the National Assembly to transmit a harmonised bill to the President for assent, as public attention now shifts to the final shape of Nigeria’s electoral framework ahead of future elections.
Atiku, PDP kick
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the Senate’s action as an “assault on electoral transparency” and a setback for democracy.
Atiku, in a statement issued by his Media Office, described the development as a grave setback for electoral reform and a calculated blow against transparency, credibility and public trust in Nigeria’s democratic process.
He argued that at a time when democracies across the world are strengthening their electoral systems through technology, the Nigerian Senate chose to “cling to opacity, protect loopholes, and preserve a system that has historically enabled manipulation, tampering and post-election disputes.”
He said: “Real-time electronic transmission of results is not a partisan demand; it is a democratic safeguard. It reduces human interference, limits result manipulation, and ensures that the will of the voter expressed at the polling unit is faithfully reflected in the outcome.
“To reject it, and adopt the 2022 provision on so-called electronic transmission of results, is to signal an unwillingness to submit elections to public scrutiny.
“This decision raises troubling questions about the commitment of the ruling political establishment to free, fair and credible elections in 2027.”
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election also called on “Nigerians, civil society organisations, the media and the international community to take note of this regression.”
On its part, the PDP said the decision by the Senate showed that it was not ready to legislate electoral integrity in the country.
National Publicity Secretary of the Turaki-led faction, Ini Ememobong, said what the Senate did should be condemned by all democratic-minded persons.
He said: “After an intentional and protracted delay, the Senate, while passing the amendment to the Electoral Act, rejected the electronic transmission of results at the polling units.
“This rejection is most shameful and unfortunate, attracting condemnation from all democratic-minded persons.
“We charge our lawmakers to remember that they are delegates of power invested in them by the voters in their various constituencies and must endeavour to mirror their desires and wishes at all times.
“Electronic transmission would have brought an end to the ignoble practice that has been deployed by politicians to win elections against the wishes of the people expressed through the ballot.
“This rejection is a clear indication that the National Assembly is not willing or ready to legislate for electoral sanctity and democratic consolidation. This is indeed a sad day for electoral democracy.”
