Worried by the backlash that followed reports that the Senate had rejected the electronic transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Senators on Thursday clarified that they firmly stand by the provision contained in Section 60(3) of the 2026 Electoral Bill.
The provision mandates real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal. It states:
“The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the 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.”
Confusion arose on Wednesday during clause-by-clause consideration of the bill when the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, announced that Clause 60 had been adopted “as amended and not as recommended.”
This announcement led to widespread media reports suggesting that the Senate had rejected the electronic transmission of results.
However, 24 hours later, thirteen serving Senators drawn from different political parties, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia South), briefed journalists covering the National Assembly to correct what they described as a wrong impression.
Addressing reporters, Senator Abaribe said the briefing was necessary to clarify the Senate’s true position on electronic transmission of election results as provided in Section 60(3) of the 2026 Electoral Bill.
He emphatically stated that the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of results and assured Nigerians that the provision would be monitored closely until the bill is transmitted to the President for assent.
“To put the record straight, yesterday (Wednesday), the Senate did not, I repeat, did not reject electronic transmission of results which was in the 2022 Act,” Abaribe said.
“What we passed—and which the Senate President himself clarified while presiding—is electronic transmission of results.”
Abaribe added that the senators organised the briefing to reassure Nigerians that both standing and ad hoc committees of the Senate, as well as the full chamber, unanimously agreed on Section 60(3).
“I can assure you, on my own behalf and on behalf of all of us standing here, that the Electoral Committee of the Senate, the Ad Hoc Committee, and the entire Senate in Executive Session agreed on Section 60(3), which is electronic transmission of votes or results,” he stressed.
Also speaking, Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) described reports that the Senate rejected electronic transmission as “very painful.”
“Our coming here today is to assure Nigerians that at no time, since September last year when the process of enacting a new Electoral Act for the 2027 general election began, did the Senate jettison the need for a legal provision allowing INEC to electronically transmit election results,” Ningi said.
He called for an end to what he described as a negative narrative against the Senate and the National Assembly.
“This negative trajectory against the Senate, and by extension the National Assembly, should stop. We shall ensure that Section 60(3) of the 2026 Electoral Bill is exactly what is transmitted to the President for assent,” he added.
Other senators present at the briefing included:
- Austin Akobundu (PDP, Abia Central)
- Peter Jiya (PDP, Niger South)
- Ireti Kingibe (ADC, FCT)
- Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central)
- Binos Yaroe (PDP, Adamawa South)
- Kabeeb Mustapha (PDP, Jigawa South West)
- Khalid Mustapha (PDP, Kaduna North)
- Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (APC, Nasarawa South)
- Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto South)
- Tony Nwoye (LP, Anambra North)
- And Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central).
