Senate President Godswill Akpabio says the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) signed into law by President Bola Tinubu will ensure that every Nigerian vote counts.
Akpabio spoke to State House correspondents shortly after Tinubu assented to the bill on Wednesday in the presence of principal officers of the national assembly.
“At the end, Nigerians will benefit a lot from future elections. Every vote will now count,” he said.
The senate president said the amendment eliminates the persistent problem of result manipulation between polling units and collation centres.
Akpabio noted that, for the first time since independence in 1960, Nigeria’s electoral law recognises electronic transmission of results.
He said the amended act mandates the electronic transmission of polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) result viewing portal (iREV).
Akpabio said the provision responds to demands by civil society organisations (CSOs), opposition parties, and election observers following allegations of result manipulation during the 2023 general election.
He, however, said the law makes provisions for areas with poor telecommunications infrastructure.
“We took cognisance of areas where there may not be any network, where there may not be communication capacities and availability,” he said.
“We said, since the polling unit result comes in from EC8A, which is signed by the presiding officer, signed by the agents, and signed in the presence of security agents, copies are given to all.
“Then we can use that as the primary source of collation at that unit.
“And then, of course, we transmit it. Even if there is no network at that time, once we step out of there, maybe towards the ward centre or the local government centre, it will drop into the iREV, and people will still be able to view.”
Akpabio said Nigerians would now be able to compare results uploaded on the portal with figures collated at ward, LG, and state levels.
“The implication of that is that if what is eventually collated at the next centre is different from what is in the iREV, Nigerians will be able to compare whether the election result had been tampered with,” he said.
“And for us, that had always been the problem in the country, that once election results leave a polling unit, they will be tampered with or mutilated. That has been eliminated today.”
Akpabio dismissed claims that the national assembly bowed to political pressure in passing the amendment.
“We are satisfied that we have met the aspirations of Nigerians, not those who are politically motivated,” he said.
He added that the senate sacrificed its holiday break to conclude work on the legislation.
Akpabio said the amendment introduces direct primaries for political parties to allow members to vote directly for candidates of their choice.
“Participative democracy, more inclusiveness. Members of different political parties are now allowed to do direct primaries,” he said.
“That means you can choose the person you want. Delegate selection, of course; one person can write the list and then just submit, but this time around, the members who are in the political party will stand up and vote for their candidates and the candidates of their choice.”
He said the law also provides that where an election winner is disqualified by a court, a fresh election must be conducted instead of declaring the runner-up as the winner.
“We don’t want a situation where, in an election, you have five people contesting, one person scores 300,000 votes, one person scores 290,000, and then, for one reason or another, he’s disqualified by the court, and then the person who scored 1,000, who is not popularly elected, will now be declared a winner,” he added.
“All those things are eliminated. We have now recommended that, where such a case happens, they should call for another election.”
Akpabio said the same principle applies to governorship elections, where candidates must meet constitutional spread requirements.
Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, who also addressed journalists at the event, said the amendment reduces the election notice period from 360 days to 300 days.
“This will inadvertently translate to holding the presidential and national assembly elections in January 2027, and that will technically avoid conducting elections during the month of Ramadan of 2027,” he said.
“I think this is another piece of ingenuity that the national assembly has introduced to avoid voter apathy in the next general election.”
The amendment comes days after INEC released the timetable for the 2027 general elections.
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