Electoral Act: Nigerians yearnings ignored, optional e-transmission defeats reform — Onovo

A former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Chief Martin Onovo, has faulted the newly assented Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, saying it did not reflect the yearnings of Nigerians for credible elections.

Onovo, who is also the Head of Policy Positions at the Movement for Fundamental Change, made the remarks in an interview with our correspondent on Thursday in Lagos.

Our correspondent reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 into law, in spite of agitations over a clause that makes electronic transmission of election results optional.

Reacting to the development, Onovo said that the demand of Nigerians for mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units was “very clear and unambiguous” for electoral integrity.

He said that the optional e-transmission of election results defeated the whole essence of the electoral reforms.

According to him, with this, the country has missed an opportunity to restore confidence in its electoral system.

“With this provision, considering our political history, desperate politicians will disregard electronic transmission even where there are no network issues and opt for the manual to compromise the will of the people and impose themselves on the people.

“This will be the story everywhere. They will drop the electronic transmission for manual and the story will not be different from the hues and cries the followed the 2023 general elections.

“We can’t be doing the wrong thing and expect the right answer. The Act will make our election business as usual. Nothing will improve from what we used to have,” he said.

Onovo argued that allowing manual collation where electronic transmission became impossible defeated the essence of the reforms Nigerians had canvassed.

“Elections should not be a do or die affair. We should block every avenue for rigging if we actually mean well for Nigerian democracy and its unborn people.

“We have suffered enough as a result of wrong people representing the populace in government. We should be seen to be growing and improving,” he said.

According to him, the signed amendment does not reflect the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians, including notable civil and professional organisations.

“Well, we cannot accept what they (the National Assembly) have done. It is not acceptable because it’s not democratic.

“The Nigerian people, according to the constitution, are the sovereign. This is not my opinion, it is what the Nigerian constitution says.

“The world knows what the people want and have demanded as the sovereign is mandatory real-time electronic transmission,” he said.

He urged the National Assembly to represent the will and aspirations of the people rather than that of political parties or other interests.

“It is very clear what the Nigerian people want,” he said.

Onovo noted that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other civil society organisations had urged the Senate to retain the House of Representatives’ earlier position mandating real-time electronic transmission.

He, however, called on Nigerians not to relent in the struggle for a better democracy.

“Struggle is not a one-instance thing. So colonialism was defeated. The military dictatorship was also defeated through struggles.

“So, what we need to do is persevere. Nigerian people should persevere. We must persevere. We will continue the struggle. It’s a struggle.

“So, it is perseverance. The Nigerian people must continue at every opportunity to insist that they are the sovereign and demand that whatever they want must be respected in a democracy. That is the meaning of democracy,” Onovo said.

NAN further reports that the two chambers of the National Assembly passed the bill on Tuesday after months of debate.

Although the legislation contains about 154 clauses, Clause 60, which makes electronic transmission of results optional, generated the most controversy.

Initially, the House of Representatives passed a version of the bill in December 2025, mandating electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV) immediately after vote counting.

The Senate, however, rejected mandatory electronic transmission and retained the provision in the 2022 Electoral Act allowing results to be transmitted to collation centres without making electronic transmission compulsory.

The Senate’s position attracted criticism from many Nigerians who urged lawmakers to adopt the House’s earlier version.

However, on Tuesday, the Senate re-amended its decision and resolved that electronic transmission would remain optional, with a caveat that in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A would serve as the primary means of result collation.