- Senate rejects amendment making e-transmission compulsory
- INEC retains discretion under existing law
- Social media reports denied by Senate leadership
- Akpabio insists electronic transmission still stands
The Nigerian Senate has rejected a proposal seeking to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory, choosing instead to retain existing provisions that give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to determine how results are transmitted.
The Senate, on Tuesday, turned down a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, which sought to compel the electronic transmission of election results directly from polling units.
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Under the rejected amendment, INEC presiding officers would have been required to upload polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in real time, immediately after Form EC8A had been signed, stamped, and countersigned by party agents.
Instead of adopting the proposal, lawmakers opted to retain the existing provision in the Electoral Act, which states that election results shall be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
The decision sparked widespread reactions online, with reports circulating that the Senate had completely rejected electronic transmission of results.
However, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, dismissed those claims shortly after the bill was passed following a marathon session that lasted over four hours.“The social media is already awash with reports that the Senate has rejected electronic transmission of results. That is not true,” Akpabio said.
He explained that the Senate merely retained the provision that was already in force during the 2022 general elections, insisting that electronic transmission remains part of Nigerian law.
“What we did was to retain the electronic transmission that was in the act and was used in 2022,” he said.
“This Senate under my watch has not rejected electronic transmission of results.”
- Akpabio warned against misinformation, stressing that the Senate had no intention of reversing electoral reforms.
“We cannot afford to be going backwards,” he added.
“If anyone is in doubt, our final votes and proceedings are available for verification.”