The Presidency has criticised opposition parties, particularly the African Democratic Congress and the New Nigeria Peoples Party, over their rejection of the amended Electoral Act, accusing them of making “reckless” and “spurious” allegations against President Bola Tinubu and the APC-led Federal Government.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement, said the opposition had resorted to “irresponsible political statements” in a bid to mislead Nigerians and attract attention.
Onanuga alleged that the opposition, working with some civil society groups, had engaged in what he described as a “relentless war of disinformation” against the National Assembly and the current administration.
He said the amendment to the Electoral Act was a necessary step to address practical realities, particularly network challenges that could affect the real-time transmission of election results.
According to him, the amended law provides for real-time transmission of results while recognising Form EC8A as a valid backup in cases of technical failure.
“The opposition’s claim that Form EC8A creates a loophole for manipulation is illogical and a needless tantrum by those who should know better,” Onanuga said.
He explained that network glitches remain a genuine concern and that the provision allowing the use of Form EC8A ensures that elections are not invalidated due to technical issues.
The presidential aide also clarified that the Independent National Electoral Commission Results Viewing Portal was designed for public viewing and not as an official collation centre.
“IReV is not a collation centre; it is a platform for uploading results for public viewing. The primary source for validating election results remains Form EC8,” he stated.
Onanuga further criticised opposition parties for rejecting direct primaries and consensus arrangements for selecting candidates, saying such provisions strengthen internal democracy within political parties.
He said the removal of delegate-based primaries was intended to restore decision-making power to party members.
“We find it perplexing why the opposition is crying over the inclusion of direct primaries and consensus voting, rather than the corrupt delegate system they prefer,” he said.
The Presidency also dismissed claims that the amendment was part of a broader plan to turn Nigeria into a one-party state, describing the allegation as false and unfounded.
Onanuga said Nigeria remains a multiparty democracy with more than a dozen registered political parties.
He maintained that the National Assembly followed due process in amending the law, noting that lawmakers consulted widely with stakeholders over a two-year period before passing the amendment.
Opposition Leaders Reject Electoral Act, 2026, Demand Fresh Amendment
Leaders of opposition political parties in Nigeria, have rejected outrightly the Electoral Act, 2026, insisting that its implementation would jeopardise the country’s democratic progress.
They made their opposition known at a world press conference on the state of the nation, held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja on Thursday.
The press conference had in attendance former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; National Chairman of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Sen. David Mark; ADC National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed.
Others present include former governors Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi; NNPP secretary of board of trustees, Buba Galadima; FCT Senator, Ireti Kingibe and former governor of Cross River, Liyel Imoke.
Speaking on behalf of the opposition leaders, the NNPP National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed said the Electoral Act hurriedly signed by President Bola Tinubu has loopholes for rigging in the 2027 general election.
The opposition leaders particularly faulted sections 60(3) and 84 of the Electoral which broached on electronic transmission of election results and mode primary election by political parties.
“We consider several provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 signed into law with such contemptuous haste by President Tinubu as a major offensive by the APC administration to subvert the will of the people in the 2027 general elections.
“We therefore state unequivocally that the new Electoral Act is anti-democratic, and its implementation will undermine electoral transparency and sanctity of the ballot which are fundamental to free, fair and credible elections and the bedrock of participatory democracy.
“This obnoxious Electoral Act, 2026 is without doubt enacted to undermine democracy in Nigeria and it is part of the on-going design by the Tinubu-led APC to disorganize and weaken opposition, corrupt the electoral system, compromise democratic institutions and foist a totalitarian one-party rule on Nigeria.
“The introduction of the proviso in Section 60(3), which allows wide and undefined discretionary powers to the presiding officer, overrides and negates the purpose of introducing electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
“This negation is unambiguously intended to provide a blank check to those who seek to manipulate election results by delaying the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV on the pretext of network failure.
“The premise of the proviso in Section 60(3) is the unavailability or possibility of network failure. We find this premise dubious and inconsistent with reality. The immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, stated on record that the BVAS equipment, which operates offline, had worked with over 90% success rate across the nation, and in the event of network failure at the point of transmission, the transmitted results would be delivered successfully whenever network is available.
“This position has been further confirmed most recently by the former INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, as widely reported, that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access. Indeed, these statements by those who have been in a position to know provide counterfactual to the lies that are being fed to the Nigerian people by a government that has lost respect for reason and reality.
“Fortunately, millions of our people who transact business daily with various financial platforms even from the remotest parts of the country know that the no-network argument is fraudulent and is merely part of the APC game-plan to rig the election in 2027.
“Indeed, we find it quite ironic, that the same APC that strongly agitated for electronic voting only a few years ago is now opposed to the use of technology for mere transmission of results. The game at hand is very clear,”the opposition said.
They noted that the amendment to Section 84 of the Act, limiting political parties to direct primaries and consensus for the purpose of selection of candidates is clearly an overreach on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of political parties in the exercise of their internal affairs.
“The National Assembly cannot hide under the provision of Section 228(b) of the Constitution to restrict political parties to only two methods of nomination. There is nothing undemocratic about indirect primaries, which create an electoral college for the selection of candidates in an objective, transparent and orderly manner.
“As a matter of fact, recent experience has shown that indirect primaries have been the most democratic of the trio provided in all the past Electoral Acts. We recall many situations where during direct primaries, the winning candidates were allocated votes that eventually exceeded the total number of votes cast in the subsequent general elections, clearly showing the unreliability of direct primaries. We have also witnessed situations of forced consensus, like the recent case of Osun APC Governorship primaries.
“Our position therefore is that as political parties we do not need legislation that prescribes what mode of party primaries political parties must adopt. In other words, the mode of nominating candidates should be strictly the internal affairs of political parties.
“There can only be one reason for this particular amendment: to create chaos and disorder in the ranks of opposition political parties in the hope that they would not be able to present a candidate and President Tinubu would be the only serious candidate in the 2027 Presidential election.
“What they are working towards is the coronation of Tinubu in 2027. Therefore, we find this amendment in bad faith and we reject it outrightly. In the coming days, we shall explore every constitutional means to cure this indirect hijack of the independence of political parties.”
The opposition leaders called on the National Assembly to urgently commence fresh amendment of the Electoral Act, 2026 to remove the obnoxious provisions.
“We demand that the National Assembly immediately commence a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians.”
They also condnemed the conduct and outcome of last Saturday’s Federal Capital Territory(FCT) Area Council election, describing it as a signal of what to expect in the 2027 general election.
“The most important lesson that the opposition learnt from the FCT election is that President Tinubu and his APC do not care about free and fair election. In fact, it is quite clear that the very fear of free and fair election is what had led them to mutilate the electoral law and insert loopholes that they could exploit for rigging and manipulation, especially at the collation stage.
“We saw it clearly in the FCT election where votes claimed by the APC outstrips the total number of accredited voters by several folds. We in the opposition therefore condemn that election as disgustingly fraudulent. But more importantly, it provides practical evidence of what the APC intend to achieve with Section (60) 3 of the new Act.
“The opposition therefore considers the blatant rigging of the FCT election as a wake-up call. We have learnt important lessons from this experience. We have given the new INEC Chairman the benefits of the doubts. The FCT election was his litmus test and from what we have seen, he has failed to convince us that anything would change under his watch, therefore telling us that we can only trust in our capacity and determination to protect our votes,” the opposition leaders added.
They also condemned the recent attack on Peter Obi and some chieftains of ADC including John Odigie-Oyegun by suspected thugs at the party’s state secretariat in Benin.
“The recent assault on leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Edo state highlights the growing acts of political violence and intolerance in our country in recent times. We condemn in the most unequivocal and strongest terms the incidence in Edo on Wednesday February 24, as well as other similar attacks in other parts of the country.
“Democracy thrives on healthy competition of ideas, not on thuggery, and unprovoked criminal unleashing of raw violence on the opposition. We have seen this in Lagos State.
“Only last Saturday, one of the ADC party agents was brutally killed during the FCT Election. This culture of intolerance, thuggery, and violence against opposition party leaders therefore poses a potent danger to democracy and national stability. This is dangerous and completely unacceptable,” they noted.
The opposition leaders also cautioned the judiciary against aiding and abetting the disruption of the democratic process.
“The final arbiter in any democracy is the judiciary. It is therefore impossible to have real democracy without an independent and impartial judiciary. Unfortunately, we have witnessed in recent years how the very institution that is meant to protect democracy has been weaponized against democracy itself.
“We therefore wish to remind the judiciary that partisan politics is for the executive and the legislature, not the judiciary. The judiciary must stop being complicit in undermining our democracy. What we have witnessed in recent times represent strong evidence that our judiciary is in dire need of reform and the temple of justice is in need of deep cleansing.
“Electoral outcomes must be decided by the people, and not the courts. The judiciary must therefore re-discover its capacity for impartiality and neutrality and regain the intrinsic trust of citizens in its judgments.”
In their separate remarks, former President Atiku, Ameachi and Obi called for unity among the opposition to repeat the feat of 2015 in which a ruling party was dislodged to save democracy, saying that is achievable in 2027.
Giving a vote of thanks, David Mark said the opposition is well prepared to checkmate the APC shenanigans, having learnt their lessons during the FCT Area Council election.
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