Abuja — The Electoral Act 2026 Becomes Law
The Electoral Act 2026 was signed into law on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, concluding months of legislative deliberations and a week of heightened parliamentary tension.
President Bola Tinubu assented to the bill in the presence of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, and senior executive officials, less than 24 hours after both chambers passed the amendment.
The speed of assent has amplified public debate, particularly over provisions governing transmission of election results ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Clause 60 and the Discretion Trigger That Could Define 2027
At the heart of the controversy lies Clause 60(3).
The provision recognises electronic transmission of polling unit results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (iReV). However, it permits reliance on manually completed Form EC8A where electronic transmission fails due to network or technical challenges.
In the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe demanded a formal division on the clause. Fifteen senators opposed retaining the manual fallback proviso, while fifty-five supported it after a contentious floor session that briefly descended into procedural dispute.
The House of Representatives witnessed similar disagreement after a voice vote on rescinding earlier language mandating real-time-only transmission.
The fallback clause has now become the defining structural pivot of the Electoral Act 2026.
Presidency Cites Broadband Concerns
Defending the amendment, President Tinubu questioned Nigeria’s broadband readiness for exclusive real-time electronic transmission.
“For final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the results,” he said.
He stressed that voting, sorting and counting remain manual processes at polling units, arguing that technology must complement — not replace — human oversight.
The President also warned against potential “glitches” and cyber interference in an increasingly digital electoral environment.
Telecom Operators Reject Infrastructure Narrative
Telecommunications operators under the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) disputed claims that infrastructure gaps justify limiting electronic transmission.
ALTON Chairman Gbenga Adebayo stated that over 70 percent of the country has 3G and 4G coverage, with 5G penetration at approximately 11 percent. He maintained that even 2G networks are capable of transmitting polling unit results electronically.
INEC had previously indicated that uploaded results would transmit automatically once devices regain network access.
The divergence between legislative caution and industry data has intensified scrutiny of the fallback provision.
Opposition and Civil Society Raise Alarm
Opposition parties described the amendment as rushed and politically motivated. The Peoples Democratic Party called the development “a dark day for democracy,” while advocacy groups such as YIAGA Africa argued that the reform signals regression in substance.
Other civil society voices adopted a more tempered stance, acknowledging imperfections in the law while urging continued advocacy for institutional improvement.
Meanwhile, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike commended the President’s swift assent, describing it as strengthening democratic evolution.
What the Electoral Act 2026 Changes Beyond Transmission
Beyond Clause 60, the Electoral Act 2026 introduces structural adjustments:
- Formal statutory recognition of electronic transmission
- Expanded use of direct primaries within political parties
- Mandate for fresh elections where a declared winner is later disqualified
- Reduction of election notice period from 360 to 300 days
Speaker Abbas indicated that the revised notice period may shift the 2027 presidential election toward January, potentially avoiding overlap with Ramadan.
How the System Actually Works — The Mechanical Core
At polling units, voting remains manual. Ballots are cast physically, counted physically, and recorded on Form EC8A. Party agents sign the form, and copies are distributed at the unit.
Electronic transmission operates as a transparency mechanism: the EC8A form is uploaded to iReV. Under the Electoral Act 2026, if upload fails due to network issues, the manually signed EC8A becomes the basis for collation until connectivity permits transmission.
The vulnerability zone historically has not been the ballot box itself, but the movement of results between polling units and higher collation centres.
The integrity of the new framework therefore depends on how strictly fallback activation is documented, monitored and audited.
The Consequence Horizon
The Electoral Act 2026 does not eliminate electronic transmission. Nor does it return Nigeria to a purely manual system.
Instead, it establishes a hybrid architecture whose strength will be measured not by political speeches, but by implementation safeguards, documentation requirements and real-time transparency.
If fallback triggers are tightly regulated and publicly auditable, the system may function as redundancy. If discretionary thresholds remain opaque, scrutiny will intensify.
As preparations for 2027 accelerate, the true test of the Electoral Act 2026 will not lie in its passage, but in its operational clarity.
This is IDNN. Independent. Digital. Uncompromising.