African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted the refusal by the Senate to approve electronic transmission of election results and voter card downloads aimed at giving credibility to future elections and INEC’s efficiency.
This is contained in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, on Thursday in Abuja.
Abdullahi condemned the senate for rejecting Electoral Act reforms, warning that the development threatens election credibility in Nigeria.
The party also faulted the decision by the upper chamber to reduce election notice periods and shorten the timelines for the publication of the list of candidates.
It urged Nigerians to resist the changes and called on the Electoral Act Conference Committee to overturn the senate decision and pass people-driven amendments.
“The senate also voted against key reforms that would have allowed for the electronic download of voter cards from the INEC website.
“They reduced the notice period for elections and shortened the timeline for the publication of candidates’names from 150 days to 60 days,” it said.
The party noted that the proposed provisions were intended to provide necessary safeguards against electoral abuse and restore voter confidence in the electoral process.
“As Nigeria’s leading opposition party, the ADC unequivocally condemns this retrogressive action of the senate and calls on all Nigerians to reject it,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had during the plenary on Wednesday, refuted the claim that the senate did not pass the electronic transmission of results.
He noted that the senate retained Clause 60 relating to the electronic transmission of election results, as proposed.
“The social media is already awash with the fact that the senate has rejected electronic transmission. That is not true.
“Electronic transmission has always been in our hearts. And what we did was to retain the electronic transmission, which has been in our hearts, and which was used in 2020.
“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 if you apply and you are entitled, so that you’ll see.
“This senate, under my watch, has not rejected electronic transmission of results. It’s in my interest as a participant in the next election for such to be done.
“So, please don’t go with the crowd. We have retained what was in the previous provision. That’s all we did,” Akpabio had said.
Also, a civil society organisation (CSO), Yiaga Africa, described as unfortunate Senate’s rejection of e-transmission of elections results, saying it undermines the whole essence of electoral integrity.
The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, stated this on Thursday in Abuja.
According to him, Nigerians have said repeatedly that electronic transmission of results will inspire trust and confidence.
“INEC demanded and advocated for electronic transmission of results because the court said that the electronic collation was not part of our electoral process, and this position taken by the senate is unfortunate.
“It’s really embarrassing and contradicts the position taken by the House of Representatives which voted ‘Yes’ for electronic transmission of results.
“We hope that when they go to the conference committee stage to harmonise their positions, these positions taken by the senate will be rejected because it undermines the whole essence of electoral integrity.
“This is really unfortunate; the senate has betrayed the trust of Nigerians and it’s the greatest disservice that they have done to this beloved country of ours,” he said.
Itodo also commented on the senate’s advocacy to block 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
All these, he said, would increase the risk of logistics problems during elections.
“What the senate passed is not a reform; it’s a betrayal of public trust and a deliberate attempt to weaken all the guardrails for credible elections,” he said.
However, Ezenwa Nwagwu, the Executive Director, Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), another CSO, countered Itodo.
According to him, the assumption that when results are not electronically transmitted, public trust is lost cannot not be substantiated.
“Another spurious assumption is that there’s an atmosphere of distrust among the masses. This cannot be substantiated by any verifiable data or statistics.
“The masses are not a politically-homogeneous category. So, nothing can be farther than the truth. Election, ordinarily, is a divisive activity that produces winners and losers.
“That said. I’m more inclined to e-collation rather than continued upload of results,” Nwagwu said.
The House of Representatives and the Senate had commenced moves to reconcile the differences in their respective versions of the bill, following the constitution of a bipartisan conference committee by both chambers.
This was as a result of the differences in key provisions of the proposed amendment, particularly Section 60(3) which deals with the electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
The Senate had, on February 4, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, subsection 3 of the Electoral Amendment Bill 2026 seeking to make the electronic transmission of election results from polling units compulsory.
The senate adopted the existing provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the commission.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives House, in its December 2025 amendment, had made real-time electronic transmission of results to the INEC Result Election Viewer (IREV) portal mandatory.
In his reaction, Chief Martin Onovo, former presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), says the country missed an opportunity to restore confidence in the electoral system following Senate’s rejection of real-time electronic transmission of election results.
The Senate had on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 after the third reading.
The upper legislative chamber, however, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3 of the bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
Lawmakers opposed to the proposal, citing technical and logistical concerns around its implementation nationwide
Onovo, an activist and Head of Policy Positions at the Movement for Fundamental Change, said that the decision was not good for the electoral process and democracy.
He said: “We have lost another opportunity to restore confidence in Nigeria’s electoral system.
“The rejection of electronic transmission in real time is simply to allow the writing of false election results.”
He said the Senate’s stance had reinforced the doubts of many Nigerians about the credibility of elections.
According to him, the development has validated citizen’s reservations about the integrity of the electoral process.
“Some of us on this side already knew that the current National Assembly and its leadership would not allow this to pass.
“This is not acceptable to the people of Nigeria. This cannot be acceptable to election monitoring groups as well as local and foreign observers.
“This position cannot also be acceptable to the civil society organisations and most of the critical stakeholders in electoral matters,” Onovo said.
The former presidential candidate said the lawmakers would have earned public trust had they aligned with the popular demand for technology-driven transparency.
“The National Assembly would have written its name in gold if it had allowed e-transmission of election results” he said.
He warned that continued resistance to reforms aimed at strengthening transparency would discourage citizens from participating in future elections.
“Nigerian people are losing interest in the electoral process because they do not believe votes count.
“Many of them stay away from the process and we keep complaining about apathy.
“It is sad that the Senate has again rejected the amendment that would have restored confidence in the process,” he added.
Onovo added that the country already possessed the capacity to deploy credible technology for elections, but lacked the political will.
“We are ripe for this and we have the technology to make this happen but for politics, we want to keep the nation backward.
He urged the National Assembly to always consider reforms that could enhance transparency and build public trust in the electoral system.
