House Of Reps Suspends Budget Sessions To Tackle Electoral Act Anomalies
A tense and disorderly session gripped the House of Representatives on Tuesday as lawmakers moved to rescind and recommit the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025, suspending ongoing budget defence sessions to address what Speaker Tajudeen Abbas described as matters that would fundamentally shape Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.
The emergency legislative session, which drew members from outside Abuja, centred on a single agenda item: the rescission and recommittal of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025 for fresh legislative consideration following the identification of technical inconsistencies and unintended provisions within the law.
Presiding over the session, Speaker Abbas commended lawmakers who travelled to attend what he called a crucial national assignment.
“The issues before us will define the elections of 2027 and give a clear vision as to what is expected to be done,” he said, signalling the urgency with which the House viewed the matter.
The first motion was moved by Hon. Francis Waive, who represents Ughelli North, Ughelli South, and Udu Federal Constituency in Delta State. Waive reminded the chamber that the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025 was passed in December 2025, but that a technical committee subsequently constituted to harmonise the bill had uncovered problems requiring further legislative intervention.
The technical committee, as disclosed by Waive, was drawn from the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly, members of the conference committee, clerks of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as legal drafters from the Directorate of Legal Services. Its mandate was to harmonise the bill and address identified anomalies following its passage.
According to Waive, the committee’s review process revealed inconsistencies and unintended consequences embedded within certain provisions of the bill, making further legislative action not only necessary but urgent ahead of the 2027 electoral cycle.
He argued that it was imperative for the House to ensure that electoral laws promote “maximum participation, fairness, inclusivity, administrative efficiency and public confidence in the electoral system,” and that correcting the identified inconsistencies through appropriate legislative measures would strengthen the overall credibility of Nigeria’s electoral framework.
“The House resolves to rescind the decision on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025 and commit the same to the Committee of the Whole for consideration,” Waive stated during the motion.
Following Waive’s motion, the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Act, Adebayo Balogun, moved a second motion to formally recommit the bill for fresh consideration by the full chamber.
It was at the point of the Speaker putting the question to the House that proceedings descended into disorder. When Abbas called the vote on the rescission of the Electoral Act, the audible response from the floor appeared to favour the “nays,” but the Speaker brought down the gavel in favour of the “yeahs,” triggering an immediate protest among lawmakers who insisted the dissenting voices had carried the vote. The Speaker subsequently called for a closed-door session, effectively suspending the open proceedings amid the controversy.
The rowdy scene underscored the deeply contested nature of electoral legislation in Nigeria, where amendments to the legal framework governing elections have historically attracted intense political interest, factional maneuvering, and cross-party disputes.
Nigeria’s Electoral Act has undergone several rounds of amendment over the past two decades, each iteration reflecting the political pressures and lessons of preceding election cycles. The Electoral Act 2022, which governed the 2023 general elections, introduced significant provisions including electronic transmission of results and the mandatory use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, both of which generated substantial controversy before and after that election.
The current effort to revisit the 2025 amendment is occurring less than two years before the 2027 general elections, a timeline that electoral experts and civil society organisations have consistently identified as critical for ensuring that any legal changes are properly understood, tested, and implemented by the Independent National Electoral Commission before polling day.
INEC has in the past raised concerns about last-minute legislative changes that leave the commission with insufficient time to adapt its operational systems, training programmes, and logistics to new legal requirements. The commission has also recently come under scrutiny following its announcement of election dates that have drawn objections from religious groups, including the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, which noted that the presidential election had been scheduled during Ramadan while gubernatorial polls risked coinciding with Eid al-Fitr.
The decision by the House to rescind and recommit the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2025, even if procedurally controversial, reflects a legislative acknowledgement that errors and ambiguities in electoral law carry consequences far beyond the walls of the National Assembly. With 2027 approaching and political temperatures already rising, the manner in which the chamber resolves its internal disagreement over this bill is likely to be watched closely by political parties, civil society, and Nigeria’s democracy observers.
The House gave no immediate timeline for the completion of the recommittal process but indicated that the legislative review would proceed without delay.