Electoral Act Crisis: Akpabio Orders Emergency Senate Session, NLC Issues Warning

Sunday Aborisade, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, Chuks Okocha, and Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

Godswill Akpabio, the president of the Senate, has called an extraordinary session for tomorrow, Tuesday, February 10, in an attempt to expedite legislative action on the contentious Electoral Act Amendments Bill in response to the criticism that followed the recent revision to the Act.

That was when well-known Nigerians protested the Senate’s purported denial of results transmission via electronic means. They comprised Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, Comrade Shehu Sanni, Comrade Ene Obi, Professor Pat Utomi, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, Comrade Usman Bugaje, Comrade Bilikisu Magoro, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, former Senate President David Mark, and Olawale Okunniyi.

The Senate was also requested by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to make sure that the new Electoral Act clearly mandated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) electronically communicate and compile polling station results in real-time.

Emmanuel Odo, the Senate Clerk, issued a statement yesterday instructing all senators to meet again for the special session that will start at midday.

Although the cause for the abrupt recall was not mentioned in the official notice, it was discovered that the emergency plenary was intended to approve the Senate’s most recent sitting’s votes and procedures.

The conference committee on Electoral Act modifications must complete this crucial procedural step before they can begin their work.

According to a senior senator who served as a principle officer, parliamentarians have already received a circular from the presiding officer, confirming the situation.

Speaking under anonymity, the senator stated, “We have been officially requested to meet again on Tuesday in order to approve the votes and proceedings of our most recent parliamentary session.

“This is required to make room for the conference committee to start working on the bill to amend the Electoral Act.”

The senator also alluded to the possibility that the emergency session will start behind closed doors due to the growing political uproar over laws pertaining to the electronic transmission of election results.

An executive session is probably going to take place prior to the day’s primary business. Serious conflict has already arisen inside and outside the National Assembly on the issue of electronic results transmission,” he continued.

The National Assembly was accused by opposition parties, civil society organizations, and election observers of trying to weaken important measures in preparation for the general election in 2027, and the recall was abruptly announced amid intense public scrutiny and growing criticism.

During the two weeks that the Senate and House of Representatives are now off, MPs are anticipated to consult with ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) regarding the implementation of the budget for 2026.

Though the Electoral Act is the piece of legislation that will determine the conduct, legitimacy, and integrity of future elections in Nigeria, the decision to break the recess highlights the urgency with which the leadership of the upper chamber views the resolution of pending legislative concerns.

The next phase of interaction between the National Assembly, the executive branch, and the Nigerian electorate, particularly with regard to the issue of electronic transmission of election results, may be shaped by Tuesday’s emergency session, which political observers say could prove crucial.

Wabba, Ezekwesili, Magori and Sanni, Utomi, Utomi, Mark, Bugaje, and Others Kick

Leading Nigerians criticized the Senate yesterday for allegedly rejecting the electronic transmission of results in advance of the general election in 2027.

Senator David Mark, a former Senate President and the National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), maintained that the ADC had a clear and uncompromising stance on the issue.

At the public presentation of “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria,” which Mark hosted at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja, the exchange took place.

Since the Senate has not yet finished working on the Electoral Act change, Akpabio emphasized in his speech that ADC and other opponents of the amendment process should not rush the process.

Citing a lack of internet and electricity in many rural places, he claimed that requests for the electronic transmission of election results in real-time did not account for Nigeria’s infrastructure issues.

He asserts that enacting a bill with such a clause could have a detrimental impact on election results.

ADC’s demand, like that of many Nigerians, is simple, Mark replied, adding that the senate president could not speak for the party.

Long explanations or arguments were unnecessary, according to Mark, who emphasized that the only thing ADC requested was that the National Assembly approve the amendment that would allow results to be transmitted in real time and let the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) assess its viability.

According to Mark, neither INEC nor Nigerians are protesting about real-time broadcasting, thus the National Assembly should enact legislation and allow INEC to voice concerns if there are any issues. The commission and Nigerians in general, he added, were calling for more credibility and openness in elections.

He maintained that bringing up infrastructure justifications during the legislative process simply served to erode public trust in the reform process and that election laws had to be created to safeguard the integrity of the vote rather than to restrict it in advance.

The Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), a recently formed coalition of prominent Nigerian political activists, also opposed the National Assembly’s decision to repeal and reject the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026’s requirement for electronic transmission of election results.

Prominent activists such as Comrade Ayuba Wabba, Dr. Usman Bugaje, Barrister Femi Falana, SAN, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, Professor Pat Utomi, Dr. Bilikisu Magoro, Amb Nkoyo Toyo, Comrade Shehu Sanni, Comrade Ene Obi, and Olawale Okunniyi came together to form the group, and they decided not to be bound by any political party or party. MCE belonged to Nigerian citizens, they claimed, whose votes had been stolen and manipulated since 1999.

“By this medium, we are calling on our teaming partners and allies not to accept any attempt to roll back the planned Occupy NASS mass protest but to mobilize and proceed peacefully on a mass civic action to defend the popular yearnings of Nigerians in resisting any attempt to return Nigeria to the dark days of manual manipulation and backroom results as a result of the distortions caused by glitches and interferences with the will of the electorate,” the group said.

They said that the MPs’ move was an outright attack on Nigerians’ freedom to select their own leaders by the National Assembly.

The group claimed that the National Assembly had chosen opacity over transparency, manipulation over credibility, and elite conspiracy over the people’s sovereign decision by rejecting the forced broadcast of election results from the polling places and other crucial provisions.

As mandatory electronic transmission of results is not controversial, the group claimed in a statement signed by Comrade James Ezema, “This is not lawmaking—it is deliberate democratic sabotage against the aspiration of our people.”

“It is a minimal defense against ballot rewriting, post-election fraud, and result tampering.” Blocking it would be a clear defense of a system that depends on rigged elections, stolen mandates, and electoral malpractice.

MCE said its intention to be clear that the fear of the actual votes and mandate of the electorate was the only legitimate reason to refuse mandatory transmission.

“In 2027, the status quo—where results are susceptible to manipulation between polling stations and collation centers—will continue to exist and be abused,” the group declared.The public’s faith in elections will be weakened if we are unable to give the transparency that Nigerians want, leading them to choose alternative methods of casting their ballots.In addition to rewarding electoral fraud and impunity, the absence of transparent election results has made it possible for the courts to become an executive branch appendage and a weapon of mandate purchase by the highest bidders, rather than functioning independently to uphold the rule of law.

According to the report, “In Nigeria, where impunity and oppression are the norm, elite state capture has become the norm. The lawmakers’ anti-democratic actions demonstrate a desperate attempt to gain access to the corrupt systems that have been in place since 1999.”Because technological openness reveals the Nigerian political elite’s dubious and corrupt practices during elections, this ruling validates what Nigerians already know.

In the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, the group demanded that the required electronic transmission of results be immediately reinstated and passed.

It said to “publicly account for those members who opposed this clause, so they do not use the cover of the senate or house of representatives to avoid public scrutiny and explain their positions to Nigerians.”As they have profited from the legislative power structure for the past 26 years since Nigeria became a democratic state, make sure they are held accountable for its use.

The Senate was also charged yesterday by the ADC Diaspora Roundtable of disregarding the desire of Nigerians by not requiring the electronic transmission of election results.

In a statement released in Abuja, the diaspora-based organization criticized the red chamber for excluding the term “real-time” from clauses pertaining to results transmission via electronic means.

Before the general election in 2027, the group cautioned that the action weakened public trust in the democratic process.

Yusuf Midala signed the statement on behalf of the ADC Diaspora Roundtable, which referred to electronic results transmission as “a basic safeguard against manipulation.”

According to the statement, removing the clause ran the potential of resurrecting previous scars related to contentious elections, especially the disputes that surrounded the 2023 elections.

“The refusal to make electronic transmission mandatory directly contradicts the clear demand of Nigerians for transparency and credibility in elections,” the statement said in part. This choice raises concerns about the incomplete learning of the lessons learned in 2023.

The issue also caused the Youth-led Electoral Reform Project (YERP-Naija) Consortium to express profound disappointment.

In a statement, YERP-Naija Consortium, represented by Bukola Idowu, YERP_Naija National Coordinator, and Executive Director, Kimpact Development Initiative, called the Senate’s action a blow to public trust in electoral integrity.

The group claimed that the Senate’s choice to keep the current structure, which permits INEC to choose the administrative method of transmitting results, undermines the clarity of the statute and reduces accountability.

Making electronic transmission necessary, the statement claims, would have offered a clear and enforceable legal safeguard to improve transparency and regain confidence, especially among Nigeria’s youth voters who view technology as essential to reestablishing the system’s legitimacy.

The next Senate-House of Representatives harmonisation procedure offered a chance for reconsideration, YERP-Naija stressed, notwithstanding the setback.

Before the 2027 general election, the consortium pushed the conference committee to work out disagreements and enact reforms that reflected the expectations of the public and the needs of the youth.

Mass Action Is Threatened by NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) requested the Senate to make sure that INEC’s ability to electronically communicate and compile results from polling places in real-time is clearly mandated under the modified Electoral Act.

The NLC stated that the mandate to INEC regarding the electronic transmission of election results must be made clear by the amended Act. It further stated that the 2027 election process must be based on clarity rather than uncertainty.

The labor movement threatened that if electronic transmission was not included in real-time, there would be widespread protests before, during, and after the election or a complete boycott, according to a statement made by NLC President Joe Ajaero.

“NLC is extremely concerned about the ambiguity and conflicting statements coming out of the Senate about the amendment to the 2022 Electoral Act, especially with regard to electronic results transmission,” the statement read. This ambiguity is quite concerning for our democracy and erodes public trust.

In order to restore legislative trust, we urge the Senate to make sure that its procedures are open and its conclusions are unambiguous.

An explicit mandate for INEC to electronically communicate and compile polling unit results in real-time must be included in the amended Act. Confidence, not uncertainty, must be the foundation of the 2027 election campaign.

Nigerians should have a transparent electoral process where their votes are not only counted but also appear to count, according to the NLC.

“We implore the Senate to furnish a prompt, official, and unambiguous report of its proceedings and final decisions,” it said.

The current discretionary clause was kept in place, according to public documents, and the proposed modification to require INEC to transmit results electronically in real-time was not enacted.

Nationwide anxiety has resulted from this, and further clarifications have simply made matters more confusing. Such legal vagueness mimics previous scandals that have caused national pain and perhaps institutionalizes doubt at the core of our democratic integrity at a crucial juncture following the 2023 elections.

The NLC therefore calls for prompt transparency and clarity. The final wording and reasoning of the clauses passed must be clarified by the Senate in a definitive declaration.