Ezekwesili to Senators: Stop Playing With Fire Over Electoral Act Loopholes
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has issued a stern warning to Nigerian senators, accusing them of “playing with fire” by retaining ambiguities in the amended Electoral Act that could undermine transparency and public confidence in the country’s democracy.
Ezekwesili, speaking on ARISE News on Friday, insisted that Nigerians are demanding the real-time electronic upload of election results at polling units, and that the Senate’s recent action falls short of addressing widespread concerns that emerged from the 2023 general election.
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Her remarks came in response to the Senate’s passage of the bill amending the Electoral Act, following hours of debate and controversy over provisions governing electronic transmission of results and the discretion granted to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“I think that the fundamental issue is that the Senate retained the INEC 2022 Act Section 60, subsection 5, which actually became infamous for the loophole that it provided for the INEC to not accord Nigerians the basis to trust it anymore,” Ezekwesili said during the television interview.
The former minister recalled assurances given by the electoral body ahead of the 2023 general election, particularly to young voters, which she said were not fulfilled. “The then chairman of INEC kept telling especially the young people of this country that he was assuring them that they would exercise the effectiveness of using online transmission into the INEC results viewing portal,” she said.
According to her, the failure to upload results electronically became the foundation for widespread suspicion and legal outcomes that weakened transparency. “Now, when they failed to do that, it became the basis for doubting what happened at polling units in the country. It became the basis on which the judicial pronouncements were made that actually the law does not mandate INEC to upload results at every polling unit,” Ezekwesili stated.
She argued that Nigerians had embraced the Electoral Act amendment process as an opportunity to close loopholes and restore confidence in democracy. “So the opportunity for reform of the INEC Act was embraced by citizens. And so that every ambiguity, every loophole, every opportunity for discretion on the part of the institution on a matter that is at the heart of the transparency, the integrity, the credibility, and therefore the legitimacy, of a democracy must be taken,” the economic expert noted.
Ezekwesili maintained that citizens were justified in expressing anger over the Senate’s decision. “Now, if that then went before the Senate and the Senate decided to do a sort of let sleeping dogs lie when indeed that was not the intention, the citizens have every reason to be as outraged as they currently are,” she said.
On citizens’ lawful options for engagement, Ezekwesili stressed that democracy derives its legitimacy from voters. “We do know that the reason citizens love democracy is that of all the political systems, this is the only political system in which they legitimize public leadership,” she stated, adding that “That is why we say that the office of the citizen is in fact the highest office in the land.”
She described the 2023 election experience as damaging to public confidence. “When the citizens who are actually the anchor on which democracy is built now say that an experience in the 2023 election was terrible, it did not build their confidence in their democracy, it eroded it,” Ezekwesili said.
The former minister highlighted steps citizens could lawfully take, including sustained engagement with representatives and public hearings. “The options are very clear,” she said. “The citizens are already speaking loudly and saying this is not our expectation.”
She warned that public disengagement should concern those in power. “When citizens begin to disavow themselves from democracy, those who are in power should be worried,” she asserted.
Pointing to voter apathy, she noted, “Our incumbent president, do you know how many Nigerians voted him? Less than 35 per cent of the registered voters came out to vote. It means they’ve checked out.”
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Ezekwesili accused lawmakers of worsening the situation. “And you now go ahead and make them more uninterested with this?” she asked. “They have a duty. They have a duty to the citizens.”
Explaining her warning to the Senate, she said, “That’s why I said to them, stop playing with fire. It’s almost as if the political class, especially as exemplified by the Senate, just wakes up every morning and says, what shall we do today to upset Nigerians?”
She rejected claims that citizens demanding accountability amounts to incitement. “Nigerian democracy belongs to the people. It doesn’t belong to the politicians,” she said.
Ezekwesili called on the Senate to reverse course and adopt a clear provision mandating electronic transmission of results. “I have recommended that the Senate should immediately cancel their two weeks emergency vacation from plenary and reconstitute and just make sure that they pass what the text of that provision says,” she recommended.
She read out the proposed clause: “The presiding officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the INEC results viewing portal, IREV, in real time,” adding that transmission should occur after results forms are signed and stamped.
In conclusion, she urged lawmakers to act decisively. “The senators know how to walk away from this,” she said. “Let them do it. Because frankly speaking, fire is dangerous. Transparency is better.”
The controversy surrounds the Nigerian Senate’s recent efforts to amend the 2022 Electoral Act as part of broader electoral reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections. Central to the debate is whether the law should mandate real-time electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s results portal, a reform widely supported by civil society groups and opposition parties as a means to enhance transparency and public confidence in election outcomes.
In early February 2026, the Senate passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026 after hours of debate, but rejected a proposed amendment that would have required presiding officers to upload results electronically in real time. Instead, lawmakers retained provisions from the 2022 Act allowing results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission,” without an explicit legal mandate for real-time uploads.
The decision sparked strong criticism from political parties and individuals, who argued that the move undermines electoral transparency and credibility. However, the Senate leadership dismissed claims that it had abandoned electronic transmission entirely, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio stating that the chamber did not reject electronic transmission of results and retained the existing provision from the 2022 Act, even amid reports of confusion and contradictory interpretations.
The debate over electronic transmission of results has been a recurring theme in Nigeria’s electoral reform discourse. During the consideration of the 2022 Electoral Act, similar controversies emerged, with the National Assembly eventually including provisions for electronic transmission but leaving INEC with considerable discretion on implementation.
The 2023 general election marked the first major test of these provisions, with INEC introducing the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) for voter accreditation and the IReV (INEC Results Viewing Portal) for results upload. However, widespread technical failures and delays in uploading results to the IReV portal led to allegations of manipulation and contributed to multiple legal challenges to the election outcomes, particularly the presidential election won by President Bola Tinubu.
Civil society organisations, opposition parties, and legal experts have since advocated for unambiguous legal language that would make real-time electronic transmission mandatory, removing any discretionary power from INEC that could be exploited to undermine transparency. They argue that clear statutory requirements would provide legal grounds for citizens to challenge any failure to transmit results electronically and would serve as a deterrent against electoral manipulation.
The current standoff between civil society demands and the Senate’s position reflects deeper tensions in Nigeria’s democratic development, particularly around institutional accountability, the role of technology in strengthening electoral integrity, and the political will to implement reforms that could alter existing power dynamics.