Members of the Obidient movement have commenced nationwide mobilisation against Nigeria’s Senate President Godswill Akpabio over alleged doctoring of the country’s electoral act.
The movement plan to besiege the National Assembly complex in Abuja in protest to force Mr Akpabio and the Senate to pass the bill seeking the electronic transmission of election results into law.
The mobilisation began with several hashtags and inscriptions amongst which are: #OccupyNASS, “Is The Senate Against Democracy?”, and “Operation Save Our Democracy.”
The Nigerian Senate had on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal & Enactment) Bill, 2026, while announcing the rejection of a proposed amendment to make electronic transmission of election results compulsory.
According to the announcement, the Senate retained the 2022 framework, which mandates manual completion, signing, stamping, and distribution of results to party agents and security personnel, with results announced at polling units and transferred in a manner as prescribed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), without mandating electronic transmission.
Former vice president Atiku Abubakar, ex-governor Peter Obi, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Action Democratic Congress have condemned the reported rejection of electronic transmission of election results by the Senate.
However, a group of Senators on Thursday revealed that what was announced by the leadership of the Senate was entirely different from what was passed by Senators.
They accused Mr Akpabio of removing the passage of electronic transmission of election results from the electoral bill passed during Senate proceeding on Wednesday.
The Senators led by Enyinnaya Abaribe, Aminu Tambuwal, and Natasha Akpoti, said senators voted to retain electronic transmission of election results in the electoral bill, as opposed to what was announced by the leadership of the Senate.
Speaking during the press conference in a video seen by Peoples Gazette, Mr Abaribe said it was necessary to make a clarification on Wednesday’s proceedings.
“To put the records straight, the senate did not pass the transfer of results which was in the 2022 Act. What we passed; and which the Senate President himself, when he was doing a clarification, sitting on his chair; is transmission of results.
“I can assure you on my honour and on the honour of all of us here, that both the electoral committee of the Senate and the ad-hoc committee of the Senate; and also in the executive session that we had, that we all agreed on Section 60(3) which is electronic transmission of results. Transmit, not transfer. What is in the 2022 act is transfer, and we don’t want a law that is vague or can be misinterpreted. We want a law that is clear, concise, and can be interpreted by all and that is unambiguous, so, it is electronic transmission of results,” Mr Abaribe said.
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