Senators of opposition parties have vowed to follow up on the amendment to the Electoral Act, insisting that the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of results as widely reported by the media.
Briefing journalists at the National Assembly on Thursday, the lawmakers said the media misrepresented the position of the Senate on the matter.
The media had reported on Wednesday that the Senators rejected electronic transmission of election results to INEC’ result viewing portal, IREV.
But the lawmakers, led by Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), said he and other opposition senators would ensure that electronic transmission of results is retained in the amendment bill that will be presented to the President for assent.
Stating their commitment to the provision, Abaribe, who spoke on behalf of other opposition senators, blamed the “mix up” on how the message was relayed by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio during the clause-by-clause consideration.
The Abia senators and 12 other opposition members said the clarification became necessary following the misrepresentation of the Senate’s position on the matter.
“To put the record straight, yesterday (Wednesday), the Senate did not, I repeat, did not pass manual transfer of results which was in the 2022 Act.
“What we passed and which the Senate President himself said, when he was doing a clarification, sitting on his chair, is electronic transmission of results,” he clarified.
Senator Abaribe said the clarification was meant to set the records straight and to assure Nigerians that the provision shall be monitored by them to the point of transmission for presidential assent.
“I can assure you on my own, and on behalf all of us who are standing here, that both the Electoral Committee of the Senate and the Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate, and also in the Executive Session, that we all agreed on Section 60 (3), which is electronic transmission of votes, or electronic transmission of results” he stressed.
Making further clarification at the briefing, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), described the report that the Senate rejected electronic transmission of results as “very painful.”
Ningi said, “Our coming here today is to assure Nigerians that the Senate at no time since September last year, when the whole process for new electoral Act for the 2027 general election started, jettisoned the need for legal provision for electronic transmission of election result by INEC.
“This negative trajectory against the Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, should stop. We shall ensure that Section 60(3) of the 2026 Electoral Bill follows what will be transmitted to the President for assent.”
Other senators present at the briefing include, Austin Akobundu (PDP – Abia Central), Peter Jiya (PDP – Niger South), Ireti Kingibe (ADC – FCT), Victor Umeh (LP – Anambra Central), and Binos Yaroe (PDP – Adamawa South).
Others are Kabeeb Mustapha (PDP Jigawa South West), Khalid Mustapha (PDP Kaduna North), Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (APC – Nasarawa South), Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (PDP – Sokoto South), Tony Nwoye (LP – Anambra North) and Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP – Kogi Central).
