Nigerians Cry, Oh Nigerian Senate Save The 2027 Elections
The All Progressive Congress (APC) led Nigerian Senate recently rejected a proposal to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, sparking controversy and criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups. The decision was made during the consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, with Senators voting to retain the existing provision that allows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to determine the mode of transmission.
The rejected amendment would have required presiding officers to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real-time, after signing and stamping Form EC8A. However, Senators argued that this could be problematic, especially in areas with weak or non-existent network coverage, and could expose elections to avoidable legal disputes.
This inglorious action of the APC-dominated Senate has caused widespread despair and loss of confidence in the 2027 electoral process, most Nigerians believe that compulsory transmission of results in real time would forestall incidents like, what was witnessed in states like Rivers State and many other parts of Nigeria, which witnessed widespread allegations of election results manipulation during the 2023 presidential elections.
This action has cast a very dark cloud on the integrity and transparency of the 2027 elections in Nigeria, setting the stage for a possible pre-election showdown between opposition parties, civil society groups against the ruling All Progressive Congress government in the coming days, in the very fragile Nigerian polity.
Many see the reasons allegedly being adduced by the senate leadership for this rejection as flimsy and self serving, there’s hardly any part of Nigeria that is not covered by telephone and Internet network penetration, infact many allude to the fact that even the ruling party are currently registering new Members electronically all over Nigeria, but when it comes to the protection of the electoral will of the Nigerian people they pay lip service to it, this is totally unacceptable and I call on the senate to honorably reverse their current position by reintroducing the compulsory transmission of results into the 2027 bill, inorder to forestall growing tensions that could derail the 2027 Elections.
The ball is now in the court of the Senate to either give life or kill the integrity quotient of the 2027 elections.
The world is watching.
By C.N.N Nwachukwu Esq
Election Integrity/Good Governance Advocate