Several Nigerian civil society organizations are raising fresh concerns about the Senate’s revised Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, warning that parts of the new provision could weaken safeguards meant to protect election transparency.
In a joint statement issued in Abuja, the groups welcomed the Senate’s decision to revisit its earlier rejection of mandatory electronic transmission of election results. However, they say the updated clause still contains grey areas that could undermine the credibility of the electoral process.
The Senate, during an emergency plenary session, approved a provision allowing electronic transmission of polling unit results “provided that it does not fail,” while also designating Form EC8A as the primary source of election results. Lawmakers also expanded their conference committee from six to 12 members to align with the House of Representatives.
Civil society groups argue that the conditional phrase tied to electronic transmission introduces uncertainty. According to them, the bill does not clearly define what qualifies as a system failure or how such a failure would be documented and verified, creating what they describe as a potential loophole.
They also expressed concern over the decision to prioritize Form EC8A. While acknowledging its legal importance, the groups say electronically transmitted results should carry equal weight, especially since digital transmission is designed to create an immediate and verifiable audit trail that reduces the risk of manipulation.
The organizations are now urging the National Assembly’s conference committee to adopt the House of Representatives’ version of the clause, which makes electronic transmission mandatory in real time from polling units and collation centers to a public portal.
They also called for the adoption of measures to address missing and unissued voter cards and encouraged lawmakers to involve civil society and technical experts in the harmonization process.
The statement was signed by several organizations, including the Centre for Media and Society, The Kukah Centre, International Press Centre, Elect Her, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, TAF Africa and Yiaga Africa. The groups urged citizens, political parties, the media and technology experts to closely follow developments, stressing that the credibility of future elections depends on the final outcome.
