Bola Tinubu signs electoral overhaul amid rancorous debate on result transmission

President Bola Tinubu has signed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026 into law, capping months of deliberations in the National Assembly and days of acrimony over how election results should be transmitted ahead of the 2027 polls.

The president assented to the bill at the State House on Wednesday in the presence of senior officials including the Senate president, Godswill Akpabio; the speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; and the chief of staff to the president, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Tinubu said democracy thrives on “very solid discussions” committed to national development and nation-building, arguing that Nigerians must have confidence in the electoral system.

“What is crucial is that you manage the process to the extent there will be no confusion, no disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and that we are all going to see democracy flourish,” he said.

On the controversy surrounding electronic transmission of results, the president stressed the continued role of manual processes.

“For final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the final results,” he said, adding that questions about broadband capacity and technical readiness remained pertinent.

“As long as you appear personally as a manual voter in any polling booth, a ballot paper is given to you manually, you decide in a corner and thumbprint the candidate of your choice, you cast your vote without hindrance or interference, ballots are subsequently counted manually, sorted and counted manually.

“It is just the arithmetic accuracy that is entered into Form EC8A. It is essentially manual. The transmission of that manual result is what we are looking at. And we need to avoid glitches, interference and unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness.”

He said Nigeria would continue to nurture its democracy for “the prosperity and stability of our country”.

The bill generated heated exchanges in both chambers, particularly over Clause 60, which addresses the transmission of election results.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the bill after a rowdy session in which Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South) demanded a division on Clause 60. Abaribe sought the removal of a proviso allowing manual transmission of results in the event of network failure.

Akpabio said he believed the demand for division had earlier been withdrawn, a position contested by opposition senators.

Citing Order 52(6), the deputy Senate president, Barau Jibrin, argued that it would be out of order to revisit a provision on which the Senate president had already ruled. The intervention sparked further uproar, including a brief face-off between Senator Sunday Karimi and Abaribe.

The Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, reminded lawmakers that he had sponsored the motion for rescission, rendering earlier decisions invalid and, in his view, legitimising Abaribe’s demand.

Akpabio suggested the call for division was an attempt to publicly demonstrate a stance. Rising under Order 72(1), Abaribe formally called for a division on Clause 60(3).

During the vote, 15 opposition senators stood against the proviso, while 55 voted in support, according to the Senate president’s tally.

Earlier proceedings had stalled during clause-by-clause consideration after a motion to rescind previous amendments, prompting consultations on the floor and a subsequent closed-door session.

The House of Representatives also witnessed dissent over a motion to rescind its earlier passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill, which had provided for compulsory real-time electronic transmission of results to IReV.

The chair of the House committee on rules and business, Francis Waive, moved the motion to align with the Senate’s position.

When the speaker put the motion to a voice vote, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes”, according to opposition lawmakers, but Abbas ruled that the ayes had it. The decision triggered protests on the floor, forcing the chamber into an executive session.

When the House first passed the amendment in December 2025, it adopted compulsory real-time electronic transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s viewing portal, IReV. The revised law now accommodates manual transmission in the event of technical failure, a compromise that has deepened partisan divisions as the 2027 general election approaches.