The National Assembly passed the 2006 Electoral Act Amendment Bill yesterday.
After heated debates in rowdy sessions, the Senate and the House of Representatives ratified the clause on the electronic transmission of results.
Both chambers of the National Assembly rejected the real-time electronic upload, which was the major bone of contention throughout the debates.
The lawmakers also reduced the timeline for notification of the election from 360 days to 300.
Drawing from the Electoral Act 2022, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday issued the notification for next year’s general election.
It announced February 20 for the Presidential and National Assembly elections and March 6 for the governorship and House of Assembly polls.
But the possibility of the dates clashing with Ramadan and the Lenten season created a headache for the electoral agency.
The reduction of the timeline, if the Bill is assented to by the President, will allow INEC the room to adjust the dates.
Another major amendment is the approval of consensus mode and direct primaries for the selection of party candidates.
The passage of the bill followed the harmonisation of the two versions passed by the Senate and the House by their Conference Committees.
Clause 60, passed by both chambers in respect of electronic transmission of results reads: “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal, 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 where available at the Polling Unit.
“If the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure and it becomes impossible to transmit the result contained in Form EC8A signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit, the Form EC8A shall remain the primary source of collation and declaration of the result.”
The amended notification date passed by the lawmakers in Clause 28 reads: (1) “The Commission shall, not later than 300 days before the day appointed for holding of an election under this Bill, publish a notice in each State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory: (a) stating the date of the election; and (b) appointing the place at which nomination papers are to be delivered.
“(2) The notice shall be published in each constituency in respect of which an election is to be held.
“(3) In the case of a by-election, the Commission shall, not later than 14 days before the date appointed for the election, publish a notice stating the date of the election.”
The proceedings in the Senate became tense as attention shifted to Clause 60(3), which deals with the electronic transmission of election results.
Opposition members of the House of Representatives walked out of the chamber to protest the passage by the majority.
In the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia), who raised a point of order, demanded a formal division of the Senate.
Citing “Order 72 (1), he said: “Any senator may challenge the opinion of the president by claiming a division. So, I am calling for a division.”
He stuck to the position yesterday, unlike last week when he withdrew his motion calling for a division.
The call for a division triggered heated exchanges, with senators locked in a shouting match and challenging the procedure.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele defended the request, saying: “The essence of a motion for rescission is that whatever was passed in the past remains in the past. We are reopening the whole issue.”
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, directed the senators to physically indicate their positions on whether the proviso allowing manual transmission of results during network failure should remain.
He said: “Those who are in support of the proviso, stay on the right side.”
Some shouted in protest.
But after counting, the Senate President announced the result, saying: “Those who do not want any proviso are 15 in number, and those who want the proviso are 55 in number and so, the proviso stays.”
At the end of the vote, 55 senators, mostly from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and three opposition members, voted in favour of retaining the proviso allowing manual transmission where the network fails.
Opposition lawmakers, who joined their voices with the majority to vote for the provisio, are deputy minority leader Olalere Oyewunmi (PDP, Osun state), Aliyu Wadada (SDP, Nasarawa West) and Amos Yohanna (PDP, Adamawa North).
Fifteen opposition senators voted against it, insisting on mandatory real-time electronic transmission.
The 15 senators who voted for mandatory real-time transmission were Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South), Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central), Aminu Tambuwal (PDP, Sokoto South), Ireti Kingibe (ADC, FCT), Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West), Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi Central), and Onawo Ogwoshi (ADC, Nasarawa South).
Others were Tony Nwoye (LP, Anambra North), Victor Umeh (APGA, Anambra Central), Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP, Gombe Central), Austin Akobundu (PDP, Abia Central), Khalid Mustapha (PDP, Kaduna North), Sikayo Yaro (PDP, Gombe South), Emmanuel Nwachukwu (APGA, Anambra South), and Peter Jiya (PDP, Niger South).
Akpabio lauds colleagues’ courage
After the bill was passed, Akpabio said: “A bill for an Act to repeal the Electoral Act No. 13 of 2022 and re-enact the Electoral Bill 2026, to regulate the conduct of Federal, State, and Area Councils’ elections in the Federal Capital Territory and for other related matters 2026, taken.
“Let me thank the distinguished senators for their act of patriotism, and thank all of you for displaying democracy, particularly those who had the courage, even in the face of an overwhelming majority, to stand up and to answer your father’s name by showing so much courage to vote against a proviso in Clause 60(3).
“Your minority status notwithstanding, you showed overwhelming courage. You were able to prove democracy at work. I also want to thank those who voted for the proviso to remain, that you have saved democracy by making sure that we don’t go on continuous reruns and repeats of elections by ensuring that the primary mode of election results is the Form EC8A.”
He added: “I want to also thank the Senate for introducing electronic transmission of polling unit results through the portal to the IReV, which will now make it possible for election monitors, including foreigners, who monitor our results, who are not able to visit the 176,000 plus polling units in Nigeria, to see the polling unit results dropping into the IReV.
“This is a major innovation since 1960, which is still a stance to be applauded. I also want to thank you for noting that elections are done in the polling units. Elections are not done at the collation centres.
“That is why you insisted that the polling unit results filled by presiding officers and co-signed by the polling clerk, as well as agents of candidates and political parties, where available, remain the primary mode of collation of all results in Nigeria.
“I thank you for your innovation that we should undertake only direct primaries plus consensus in our primary system, because this will enable all party people to partake in the choice of their candidates.
“Above all, I thank you for cancelling your budget defence and coming to undertake this plenary to bring this issue to an end. Congratulations to all for ensuring a smooth election in 2027.”
INEC granted flexibility
There was turmoil as senators rescinded their earlier passage of the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026, to allow amendments that could shift next year’s polls.
Leading the motion for rescission and recommittal, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele invoked the Senate Standing Orders to justify the reconsideration of a bill already passed.
He said: “Order 52(c) of our rule book says it shall be out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific question upon which the Senate has come to a conclusion during the current session, except upon a substantive motion for rescission.”
Bamidele explained that the Senate acted after INEC released the 2027 election timetable, fixing the Presidential and National Assembly polls for February 2027 in line with the statutory 360-day notice requirement.
He pointed out that religious stakeholders raised concerns over the timing.
Bamidele said: “Stakeholders within the Muslim communities had reached out to INEC to say that the proposed date of the February 2027 presidential election would conflict with the Ramadan exercise for 2027.
“Let me also add that even the Christian Lenten period is partly in February and dovetails into March of 2027.”
Bamidele said the statutory timeline constrained INEC’s flexibility.
After a voice vote presided over by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Senate dissolved into the Committee of the Whole and commenced clause-by-clause reconsideration of the bill.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC and Electoral Matters, Senator Simon Lalong, who supported the motion, dismissed claims that the election date was deliberately fixed to clash with Ramadan.
The senators cited multiple drafting inconsistencies in the long title and several clauses, requiring harmonisation.
On Clause 28 which deals with notice of election by INEC, the Senate amended the clause to read as follows: (1) “The Commission shall, not later than 300 days before the day appointed for holding of an election under this Bill, publish a notice in cach State of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory: (a) stating the date of the election; and (b) appointing the place at which nomination papers are to be delivered.
“(2) The notice shall be published in each constituency in respect of which an election is to be held.
“(3) In the case of a by-election, the Commission shall, not later than 14 days before the date appointed for the election, publish a notice stating the date of the election.”
The Senate also passed the Direct and Consensus mode for primary elections.
Reps adopt Senate version in rowdy plenary
The House of Representatives adopted a redrafted version of Clause 60(3), which allows for electronic transmission.
Clause 60 of the amended version reads: “The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal 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 where available at the Polling Unit.”
There is however, a proviso which states that “provided that if the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure and it becomes impossible to transmit the result contained in Form EC8A signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit, the Form EC8A shall remain the primary source of collation and declaration of the result.”
At plenary, tempers rose when the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, called the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, Francis Waive, to move a motion for the rescission of the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which was passed on December 23, last year, and reconsideration of the bill.
When the Speaker put the question on whether to rescind and reconsider the bill, some opposition members voted against the move.
But Abbas ruled that the Ayes had it, leading to protest and an Executive Session, which lasted for over one and a half hours.
The House resumed plenary to consider the bill, but there was also uproar when the Deputy Speaker, who later presided over plenary, began to take the clauses in groups of 10, while members insisted that it be done clause by clause.
Opposition lawmakers gathered in front of the Mace, protesting and urging the Speaker to preside.
The House was later divided into two, with the APC lawmakers moving to one side of the chamber, while the opposition members moved to the other side.
The House, however, resorted to clause-by-clause consideration until Clause 60 again became a major bone of contention.
Deploying their numerical strength, the APC members’ Yes Vote dwarfed the opposition.
Chinda: why opposition walked out
Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, said opposition lawmakers walked out because they were opposed to the positions of the House on Clause 60(3) and Clause 84.
He said that while they were in support of the provisions that election results shall be transmitted electronically, they rejected any clause that would leave room for manipulation of election results.
Chinda said their position was that Clause 60(3) on electronic transmission should remain without any proviso, adding that where there is a conflict between the results on the IREV and Form EC8A, the results on the IREV should prevail.
He lamented that this position was turned down by the House.
Chinda said the position of the APC-led House was not motivated by patriotism, but party affiliation, adding that the opposition’s decision to walk out of plenary was to let Nigerians know their position on the issue.
He also said they were opposed to the provision of clause 84, which alters the processes of nomination of candidates, adding that the political parties should be allowed to choose what method of nomination.
‘Rowdy session part of parliamentary practice’
Spokesman of the House, Akintunde Rotimi, said what transpired was democracy in action.
Rotimi said: “Today was a very, very historic day in the annals of the history of our democracy and of course our parliamentary practice.
“You can’t add anything new. It is only what is in either the Senate’s or the House’s provisions that can be considered. But since there were new considerations, especially following the announcement of INEC guidelines and all of that, we had to have this extraordinary session.
“The Joint Senate and House conference committees met extensively, and leadership has also consulted extensively, which formed the basis of a lot of the provisions that you saw and the process aligned with both the standing orders of the House”.
Speaking on why the timeline for notice of election was reduced from 360 to 300 days, Rotimi said: “The conference committee only considers the provisions in either the Senate or the House.
“We wanted to introduce a few amendments in the light of evolving realities and the feedback from the public concerning the announcement of the INEC timetable, which falls within the fasting period and the consultations held. We needed to make some legal adjustments.
“You know, INEC acted within the provisions of the extant law, but you need to be able to walk around those provisions to allow a lot more flexibility for INEC to be able to fix the timetable while keeping with the provisions of the law.
“It might not have been in the House or the Senate’s provisions, but it’s very much aligned with the parliamentary practice and the standing rules of the House to be able to arrive at those provisions.”
On the rowdy plenary, the House Spokesman said: “You might have seen a situation where it seemed a little rowdy. I want to assure Nigerians that that’s part of parliamentary practice.
“Everyone has been elected to represent Nigerians and to represent the interests of their constituencies and, of course, the broader Nigerian citizenry.”
