A civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, has described the Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of elections results in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill as a betrayal of public trust.

It observed that the action was a calculated effort to erode the safeguards put in place to ensure free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria.

Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, stated on his official X handle (@DSamsonItodo), following Senate’s rejection of what many have described as a critical reform, and that the decision represented a major setback to Nigeria’s democratic progress and undermined years of advocacy aimed at strengthening electoral transparency and accountability.

Stakeholders warned that blocking the electronic transmission of results would further expose the electoral process to manipulation and diminish public confidence in election outcomes.

According to Itodo, retaining the compressed timelines to elections will increase the risk of logistics problems during polls.

The Guardian reports that the House of Representatives has already constituted a Conference Committee to harmonise areas of difference between the versions of the bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.

The Yiaga Executive Director, however, expressed optimism that the panel will reject the Senate’s position and ‘restore the progressive provisions that will make votes count in 2027’.

“The Nigerian Senate @SenateNGR rejected electronic transmission of results, blocked the download of electronic voter cards from INEC website, reduce notice of election from 360 days to 180 days, cuts down timeline for publishing list of candidates from 150 days to 60 days.

“These compressed timelines will increase the risk of logistics problems during elections. What the Senate passed today is not reform. It’s a betrayal of public trust and a deliberate attempt to weaken all the guardrails for credible elections. The Senate’s position sharply contrasts with the progressive position taken by the House of Reps @HouseNGR.

“We hope the Conference committee will reject the Senate’s position and restore the progressive provisions that will make votes count in 2027,” he tweeted.

Also, in her Facebook handle, the lawmaker representing Kogi Central in the National Assembly, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan threw her weight behind realtime electronic transmission of results, adding that “Failure of such stealths a lethal assault to Nigeria’s democracy”.

(The Guardian)

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