Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has warned Nigerian senators that they are “playing with fire” by retaining ambiguities in the amended Electoral Act, insisting that Nigerians are demanding real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
Speaking on ARISE News on Friday, Ezekwesili criticised the Senate’s passage of the Electoral Act amendment bill, faulting lawmakers for retaining provisions that give the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wide discretion on how election results are transmitted.
She said the Senate’s decision to retain Section 60(5) of the 2022 Electoral Act preserved a loophole that undermined public trust in the electoral process. According to her, the provision became controversial after INEC failed to upload polling unit results electronically during the 2023 general election.
Ezekwesili recalled assurances given by INEC leadership ahead of the 2023 polls, particularly to young voters, that results would be transmitted in real time to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV), promises she said were not fulfilled.
“The failure to upload results electronically became the basis for doubting what happened at polling units,” she said, noting that court rulings later held that the law did not expressly mandate INEC to transmit results electronically.
She argued that the amendment process should have been used to close all loopholes and remove ambiguities capable of weakening transparency, credibility and public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic system.
According to Ezekwesili, citizens are justified in expressing anger over the Senate’s decision, warning that continued voter apathy poses a serious threat to democracy. She cited low voter turnout in the 2023 election as evidence of growing public disengagement.
She stressed that democracy derives its legitimacy from citizens, adding that lawmakers have a duty to respond to public expectations rather than deepen mistrust. “When citizens begin to disengage from democracy, those in power should be worried,” she said.
Ezekwesili called on the Senate to reverse course by clearly mandating real-time electronic transmission of results, urging lawmakers to reconvene and adopt an unambiguous provision requiring presiding officers to upload polling unit results to IREV after forms are signed and stamped.
The controversy follows the Senate’s passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026 earlier this month, which retained language allowing results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission,” rather than mandating real-time electronic uploads—a decision that has drawn criticism from civil society groups and opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections.
