The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has escalated its opposition to the Senate’s handling of the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026, warning of nationwide protests and a potential boycott of the 2027 general elections unless the Senate urgently “comes clean” on its position regarding electronic transmission of election results.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday and titled “The Senate Must Come CLEAN Now: Electoral Integrity at Stake”, NLC President Joe Ajaero condemned what the labour movement described as “confusion and contradictory narratives” emerging from the upper chamber over whether the amended law would clearly mandate the real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results.
Ajaero argued that the Senate’s actions risk undermining public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process, saying Nigerians deserve a system “where votes are not only counted but seen to be counted.”
The controversy centres on the Senate’s rejection of a proposed amendment to Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results electronically to the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time directly from polling units. Instead, the chamber retained the existing language that allows results to be sent “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission,” effectively preserving INEC’s discretion on how and when to transmit results.
Labour and civil society sources say this retention of discretionary wording has triggered nationwide apprehension, as “subsequent explanations have only added to the confusion,” and could institutionalise doubt in the electoral system ahead of elections.
In response to the backlash, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has publicly defended the chamber’s decision. Akpabio said the Senate did not reject electronic transmission but removed the specific phrase “real-time” to avoid legal and technical complications, allowing INEC flexibility to address infrastructural and security challenges. He stressed that electronic transmission remains permissible under the retained provision.
Supporters of the Senate’s stance, including some ruling party figures, argue this approach strengthens the legal framework while accommodating Nigeria’s varying technological capacities nationwide. Critics, however, see it as a significant dilution of transparency safeguards.
Beyond the NLC, other organisations have criticised the Senate’s move. The Movement for Credible Elections (MCE), a coalition of civil society activists, has called for an “Occupy NASS” protest to force a legislative U-turn, insisting that mandatory electronic transmission is a minimum safeguard against result manipulation.
The Youth-led Electoral Reform Project (YERP-Naija) Consortium and several prominent civil society figures have also faulted the Senate, arguing that the rejection of mandatory transmission weakens electoral transparency.
The NLC’s statement warns that failure to mandate real-time electronic transmission could lead to mass action “before, during and after the elections” or even a total boycott of the 2027 general elections — a stark signal of rising labour and civic unrest.
Ajaero urged the Senate to issue an immediate, official and unambiguous clarification of the final wording of the amendment and the rationale behind it, warning that legislative ambiguity at this stage “is a disservice to our democracy.”
The Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 now faces a conference committee to harmonise conflicting versions passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives — the lower chamber having previously approved mandatory electronic transmission. Once harmonised, the bill will be sent to the President for assent.
