Amid mounting protests at the National Assembly over proposed changes to Nigeria’s Electoral Act, the Senate on Tuesday constituted a 12-member committee to harmonise positions with the House of Representatives on the contentious amendment bill.
The committee was announced by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during an emergency plenary session convened to address the growing public outrage surrounding the bill. The amendment process has triggered demonstrations by civil society groups, pro-democracy activists and opposition figures who accuse lawmakers of attempting to weaken the integrity of future elections.
Prominent members of the Senate committee include Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Senator Tahir Monguno, among others, who will interface with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to resolve grey areas in the proposed legislation.
The uproar centres on demands for the compulsory real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units, a provision that featured prominently in earlier versions of the Electoral Act and was widely credited with improving transparency in the 2023 general elections.
Many Nigerians fear that the current amendment seeks to dilute this safeguard by giving the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) greater discretion over how and when results are transmitted. Critics argue that such flexibility could reopen avenues for manipulation, delays and post-election disputes that plagued past polls.
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Civil society organisations insist that real-time electronic transmission has become a cornerstone of electoral credibility and should be explicitly guaranteed by law, not left to administrative discretion. They warn that any rollback would amount to a legislative assault on democratic gains achieved after years of reform.
These concerns have spilled onto the streets of Abuja, with protesters gathering at the National Assembly complex, chanting slogans and demanding that lawmakers retain unambiguous provisions mandating electronic transmission of results.
The newly constituted joint committee is expected to reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill and present a harmonised report in the coming days. Its outcome will likely determine whether lawmakers can calm public anger or further inflame tensions ahead of future elections.
For now, the Electoral Act amendment remains under intense national scrutiny, with many Nigerians watching closely to see whether the National Assembly sides with public demands for transparency or presses ahead with changes viewed as controversial.
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