The Nigerian Senate has amended the Electoral Act to retain mandatory electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV), while permitting manual result sheets to take precedence if electronic transmission is unsuccessful
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The amendment to Section 60 of the Act was adopted on Tuesday during plenary proceedings presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio and monitored by SaharaReporters. Under the revised provision, presiding officers at polling units are required to electronically transmit results to the IREV portal after voting concludes.
However, the new clause introduces a contingency: where electronic transmission fails due to communication or network challenges, the manually completed result sheet—Form EC8A—will serve as the primary basis for collation and declaration of results.
While putting the motion to a vote, Akpabio urged senators opposed to the amendment to formally present a counter motion. “It’s very simple. If you disagree with him, move your counter motion. So, if you agree with him, you agree with me when I put the votes,” he said.
Akpabio explained that the motion sought to rescind an earlier Senate decision relating to Section 60, Subsection 3 of the Electoral Act. He clarified that the earlier motion, which had been passed at a previous sitting, was being revisited.
Reading the amended provision, the Senate President stated that presiding officers must electronically transmit results to IREV after Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and, where available, countersigned by candidates or polling agents at the polling unit.
He added that the law now expressly provides for situations where electronic transmission proves impossible. “Provided that if the electronic transmission of the results fails as a result of communication failure—maybe network or otherwise—and it becomes impossible to transmit the results electronically in Form EC8A signed and stamped by the presiding officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling units, the Form EC8A shall in such a case be the primary source of collation and declaration of results,” Akpabio said.
The amendment has heightened concerns among civil society organisations and opposition figures, who argue that allowing manual results to override electronically transmitted results could weaken transparency and expose the electoral process to manipulation, especially in areas with poor network coverage.
Akpabio disclosed the decision during Tuesday afternoon’s plenary while announcing the constitution of a 12-member Senate delegation to harmonise differences between the Senate and the House of Representatives on the electoral amendment bill. The Senate also increased the size of its conference committee from nine to 12 members to match that of the House of Representatives, with the aim of expediting the process.
“We have raised our numbers from nine to twelve to match the figures from our colleagues in the House of Reps. We expect everything to be done in the next few days or in a week. The President is expected to sign this into law in February,” Akpabio said.
The development comes amid growing controversy, public backlash and street protests, with critics accusing the National Assembly of deliberately weakening the Electoral Act in a manner that could undermine credible elections.
