By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN CITY – A former Chief Whip of the Senate and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Sir Rowland Owie, on Thursday, condemned the decision of the Nigerian Senate to reject the proposal for mandatory electronic transmission of election results for the proposed Electoral Bill for the 2027 general elections describing it as a grave regression that strikes at the heart of electoral transparency, credibility, and public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic order.
In a statement personally issued by him and made available to journalists in Benin City, Senator Owie said the Senate’s action amounts to a deliberate weakening of the safeguards required to ensure free, fair, and verifiable elections.
Recall that the Senate on Wednesday rejected an amendment to Clause 70(3) of the Electoral Amendment Bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results compulsory.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio clarified that the chamber merely retained the existing provision of the Electoral Act allowing results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission” but Senator Owie stated that the position preserves dangerous ambiguity and undermines public scrutiny.
The statement read in part: “I condemn, in the strongest and most unequivocal terms, the decision of the Nigerian Senate to reject the mandatory, real-time electronic transmission of election results.
“This decision represents a profound setback for electoral reform and an unfortunate capitulation to opacity at a moment when Nigeria ought to be consolidating democratic trust.
“Across the democratic world, technology is being harnessed to deepen transparency, reduce manipulation, and restore public faith in elections. Regrettably, the Nigerian Senate has chosen a different path; one that protects loopholes, preserves uncertainty, and sustains a system historically prone to dispute, alteration, and abuse.
Real-time electronic transmission of results is neither radical nor partisan; it is a democratic imperative. It curtails human interference, constrains post-poll tampering, and ensures that the sovereign will of the voter, as expressed at the polling unit, is faithfully and transparently reflected in the final declaration of results.
“To reject this safeguard and retreat to the vague provisions of the 2022 framework is to signal an unwillingness to subject our elections to full public scrutiny. Such a posture raises serious and unsettling questions about the commitment of the political establishment to credible, free, and fair elections in 2027,” he said.
Owie emphasised that Nigerians were entitled to an electoral system that commands confidence and reflects contemporary democratic standards saying that “Democracy is not static; it must evolve in step with time, technology, and the legitimate expectations of the people. Elections must be decided by voters, openly, promptly, and verifiably; not by delays, discretionary procedures, or backroom revisions.
“I therefore call on Nigerians, civil society organisations, the media, and the international democratic community to take sober note of this regression and to remain steadfast in demanding an electoral framework that meets modern democratic norms.
“Nigeria deserves elections that are transparent, verifiable, and beyond manipulation. Anything less constitutes an injustice to the electorate and a betrayal of the democratic promise.”
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