Abuja
Part A: From Amendment to Flashpoint: How E-Transmission Became Contentious
As Nigeria moves closer to the 2027 general elections, a few issues have exposed lingering electoral anxieties as sharply as the renewed controversy over electronic transmission of results.
What began as a technical amendment to the Electoral Act has grown into a national flashpoint, revealing deep tensions between public demands for transparency, lawmakers’ political caution, and the operational realities facing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Insecurity and mistrust from previous election cycles have sharpened public focus on how votes are counted, transmitted, and declared.
The dispute erupted during Senate consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, when lawmakers removed the phrase “real-time” from provisions relating to electronic transmission of results. In its place, the Senate retained language similar to the Electoral Act 2022, granting INEC discretion over the mode, timing, and method of result transmission.
To many Nigerians, the move appeared deliberate. Real-time transmission had become a central public demand following the 2023 general elections, where technical failures and delayed uploads to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV) triggered mistrust, court cases, and political tension. The removal of the phrase was widely interpreted as a retreat from transparency and a signal that lawmakers were unwilling to fully close avenues for post-poll manipulation.
Civil society organisations, opposition parties, election observers, and public figures swiftly condemned the Senate’s decision. Protests followed under the banner “Occupy the National Assembly,” with demonstrators demanding that real-time electronic transmission be made mandatory and clearly stated in law.
Faced with mounting pressure, the Senate convened an emergency plenary to revisit the clause. A motion moved by Chief Whip Mohammed Tahir Monguno and seconded by Minority Leader Abba Moro led to an amendment of Section 60(3) of the bill.
Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are required to electronically transmit results after signing and stamping result sheets, which must also be countersigned by party agents where available. Where electronic transmission fails due to network or technical challenges, Form EC8A becomes the fallback document for collation and declaration.
The amendment marked a clear U-turn but stopped short of making real-time transmission compulsory in all circumstances.
Senate leadership defended the revised position as a balance between innovation and Nigeria’s infrastructural realities. Senate President Godswill Akpabio argued that enforcing rigid real-time transmission requirements could disenfranchise voters in rural and underserved communities with weak or non-existent internet coverage.
He warned that an inflexible mandate could lead to widespread litigation where uploads fail due to factors beyond the control of election officials. According to Senate leaders, retaining manual result sheets as a fallback is intended to protect votes cast in areas with poor connectivity. From the Senate’s perspective, the amendment avoids creating a law that is technologically ambitious but operationally unrealistic.