Senate President Godswill Akpabio has clarified that the Senate did not reject the electronic transmission of election results during its consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.
Akpabio made the clarification shortly after the red chamber passed the bill following a marathon session that lasted about four and a half hours.
Deliberations on the contentious amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill began at about 2:00 p.m. and ended at 6:26 p.m., sparking widespread speculation online that lawmakers had voted against mandatory electronic transmission of election results.
Earlier reports had claimed that the Senate rejected a proposal requiring presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal in real time, after signing and stamping the prescribed result forms.
The reports further suggested that the Senate retained the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which states that presiding officers shall transfer election results, including the total number of accredited voters, in a manner prescribed by the Commission.
However, Akpabio dismissed the interpretation as misleading, insisting that electronic transmission of results remains part of the law.
“Distinguished colleagues, social media is already awash with reports claiming that the Senate has rejected electronic transmission of results. That is not true. What we did was retain the electronic transmission provision that has been in the Act and was used in 2022,” he said.
He urged Nigerians not to be misled by misinformation, noting that the Senate’s final votes and proceedings would be made available for verification if needed.
“So please, do not allow people to confuse you. If you are in doubt, we will make our final votes and proceedings available to you upon request,” Akpabio said.
The Senate President stressed that under his leadership, the Senate had no intention of reversing electoral reforms.
“This Senate under my leadership has not rejected electronic transmission of results. It is in my interest as a participant in the next election for this to be done. So please, don’t go with the crowd,” he said.
Akpabio added that the lawmakers merely retained provisions from the previous law, which already recognised electronic transmission of results.
“We have retained what was in the previous provision by way of amendment. That was all we did. The previous law already made allowance for electronic transmission, so it remains part of our law. We cannot afford to go backwards,” he said.
