WHEN President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appended his signature to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 at the Presidential Villa, it marked the culmination of months of debate, division, protests and political brinkmanship.
For many Nigerians, it was more than a ceremonial act. It was a defining moment that could shape the credibility of the 2027 general elections.
In this weekend feature, News Point Nigeria examines how the bill journeyed from heated committee rooms and rowdy plenaries to presidential assent and why one clause, more than any other, continues to dominate public discourse.
President Tinubu assented to the bill during a brief but symbolic ceremony attended by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Abbas Tajudeen, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu and other principal officers of government.
With that signature, the legislation containing approximately 155 clauses became law. Subsequent elections will now be conducted in line with its amended provisions.
But while the ceremony appeared orderly, the legislative path to that moment was anything but smooth.
Among its many provisions, Clause 60 became the most controversial.
Initially, the House of Representatives had passed a version mandating the electronic transmission of election results from polling units directly to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The Senate rejected that approach. Instead, it retained a provision similar to that in the 2022 Electoral Act, allowing results to be transmitted electronically but not making such transmission mandatory.
After protests and renewed pressure, the Senate reconvened and voted by division.
Fifty-five senators, including Deputy Minority Leader Oyewunmi Olalere and Senator Amos Yohana — voted to retain electronic transmission as optional.
Fifteen senators, including Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, Ireti Kingibe, Seriake Dickson, Aminu Tambuwal and Abdul Ningi voted to make it mandatory. Senate President Akpabio subsequently ruled that the optional provision would stand.
The House, which had earlier favoured mandatory transmission, later reversed its position and adopted the Senate’s version.
Central to the compromise is Form EC8A, the primary document on which presiding officers record results immediately after counting votes at polling units.
In election petitions, courts often rely heavily on EC8A forms as the first official record of votes at the source.
Under the amended law, electronic transmission remains permissible. However, in the event of internet failure, EC8A becomes the primary instrument of collation.
To supporters of the amendment, this offers flexibility. To critics, it introduces discretion at the most sensitive stage of the electoral process.
President Tinubu defended the amendment by urging Nigerians to consider the country’s technical realities.
“In fact, for final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings,” he said.
He questioned Nigeria’s broadband capability, asking whether the country was technically prepared to sustain real-time electronic transmission nationwide.
“As long as you appear personally, as a manual voter in any polling booth, a ballot paper is given to you manually… ballots are subsequently counted manually,” he added, emphasising that the arithmetic accuracy recorded in EC8A remains central.
The president warned against glitches, interference and potential hacking, arguing that optional transmission could help avoid unnecessary technological disruptions.
Not everyone is convinced.
The Kukah Centre, Yiaga Africa, TAF Africa, the International Press Centre, Centre for Media and Society, Nigerian Women Trust Fund and Elect Her criticised the assent, describing it as a missed opportunity for transformative reform.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition, TAF Africa’s CEO, Jake Epelle, warned that the speed and opacity of the legislative process undermined public trust.
The coalition also criticised the N50 million administrative fee for new political party registration under Section 75(6), calling it exclusionary.
They urged the National Assembly to publish the full version of the law and called on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a revised timetable for the 2027 elections.
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) described the assent as necessary given time constraints ahead of 2027 but demanded full public disclosure of the law’s contents.
Similarly, Afenifere condemned the rejection of mandatory real-time transmission, describing it as self-serving and potentially harmful to democratic integrity.
Beyond Clause 60, the Senate amended Clause 28(1), reducing the timeline for INEC to publish notices of election from 360 days to 180 days later adjusted to 300 days giving the commission greater flexibility in scheduling.
This change followed concerns that the earlier timeline could complicate preparations for the 2027 elections, especially with issues such as Ramadan overlapping with projected polling dates.
Former INEC National Commissioner Festus Okoye cautioned that delayed legal clarity could create uncertainty similar to what occurred before the 2023 elections.
Nigeria’s electoral evolution has shifted public anxiety from the act of voting itself to what happens after votes leave the polling unit. Accreditation technology like BVAS has reduced disputes at the point of voting.
But the zone between polling units and collation centres remains a flashpoint.
The decision to keep electronic transmission optional is therefore seen by critics not as a minor technical adjustment but as a political signal, a choice for discretion over obligation. Supporters counter that discretion is necessary in a country with uneven connectivity and complex terrain.
With the law now signed, implementation becomes the next battleground.
The amendments, though framed as administrative refinement, carry political weight. Elections are ultimately judged not by the neatness of statutes but by public confidence in outcomes.
As Nigeria moves toward 2027, the real test of the Electoral Act 2026 will not lie in Clause 60 alone but in whether citizens believe the journey from ballot paper to final declaration is secure, transparent and credible.
In the end, laws can be amended. Trust, once lost, is far harder to restore.