The Senate was divided, yesterday, as 13 frontline opposition senators kicked against reports that the upper chamber of the National Assembly rejected mandatory electronic transmission of election results in its Wednesday’s passage of the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026. As outrage trailed the Senate’s reported decision, Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh and Abdul Ningi, among others, stated yesterday that they stand on the proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory, and vowed that the provision would be monitored to the point of transmission for Presidential assent. According to them, more than two-third of the Senate wanted real-time transmission of election results and the Senate was yet to conclude the matter.
The lawmakers spoke as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, and former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, opposition parties, and civil society organisations, CSOs, among others picked holes in the Senate’s rejection of mandatory electronic transmission.
Led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe(APGA, Abia South), the 13 senators told reporters in Abuja that the Senate did not reconvene to approve the votes and proceedings of the plenary, and vowed to ensure there was that because there is still one more step left by the Senate to take.
According to the Senators, they were worried by the backlash that followed Wednesday’s rejection by the Senate of electronic transmission of election results in real time by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as contained in section 60 (3) of the 2026 Electoral bill.
On page 45 of the report of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, Clause 60( 3), the provision states: “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to IREV portal in real time and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or polling agents available at the polling unit.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio had during consideration of the bill clause-by-clause on Wednesday, announced that clause 60 as amended and not as recommended, which made the media to widely report that the new provision was rejected.
Senate didn’t reject real-time results transmission
Supported by 12 other senators, Senator Abaribe at the briefing declared that the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of results, adding that the 13 senators and many others across political divides would monitor the very important provision to the point of transmission for presidential assent. Apart from Abaribe, the other 12 senators include Abdul Ningi(PDP, Bauchi Central); Austin Akobundu(PDP, Abia Central); Peter Jiya(PDP, Niger South); Ireti Kingibe(ADC, FCT); Victor Umeh(LP, Anambra Central); and Binos Yaroe(PDP, Adamawa South).
The rest are Senators Kabeeb Mustapha(PDP Jigawa South West); Khalid Mustapha(PDP Kaduna North); Mohammed Onawo(ADC, Nasarawa South); Aminu Tambuwal(PDP, Sokoto South); Tony Nwoye(LP, Anambra North); and Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan(PDP, Kogi Central).
Speaking further, Senator Abaribe said they organised the briefing to set the record straight and assure Nigerians that the provision shall be monitored by them to the point of transmission for presidential assent.
“I can assure you on my own, and on all of us who are standing here, that both the Electoral Committee of the Senate and the Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate, and also in the Executive Session that we all agreed on Section 60 (3) which is electronic transmission of votes, or electronic transmission of results.”
