Senate Reconvenes Amid National Outrage Over Electronic Transmission of Election Results

The Senate is set to reconvene for an emergency plenary session today amid growing public demands for the inclusion of compulsory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in the ongoing Electoral Act amendment process.

The Senate had adjourned plenary for two weeks last Wednesday after passing the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2026, to enable lawmakers engage heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the defence of their 2026 budget proposals.

However, a notice of the emergency sitting, contained in a memo dated 8 February and circulated to senators, indicated a shift in the legislative calendar.

The memo was signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, who said he was acting on the directive of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

Although the memo did not state the reason for the emergency session, there are strong indications that it is linked to the public outrage that followed the passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill last Wednesday.

While several provisions of the law were amended, public attention has centred on a controversial clause relating to the rejection of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units to INEC’s IREV portal.

Last week, the Senate passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill, 2026, through third reading. A key point of contention is the removal of the phrase “real-time” from provisions dealing with electronic transmission of results, a move critics argue weakens safeguards against election manipulation.

Despite repeated clarifications by the Senate that electronic transmission was not rejected outright, protesters insist that the absence of the phrase “real-time electronic transmission” creates room for abuse and post-election interference.

On Monday, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election and a leading figure ahead of the 2027 polls, Mr Peter Obi, led hundreds of demonstrators to the National Assembly Complex in Abuja to protest the Senate’s decision.

The protest, joined by several civil society organisations, demanded the reinstatement of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results in the amended Electoral Act.

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