By Luminous Jannamike, Abuja
Tony Okoronkwo nonetheless remembers the second the celebration at his polling unit was suspicion.
The spare-parts seller at Apo Mechanic Village spent almost 9 hours at a polling unit inside Jabi Main College, Abuja, throughout Nigeria’s 2023 basic elections. When the ballots had been lastly counted and outcomes introduced, voters clapped, relieved the lengthy day had ended peacefully.
Then the importing of the outcomes, the ultimate act meant to make the end result seen nationwide, by no means occurred.
In response to Okoronkwo, the Nationwide Youth Service Corps member serving as Presiding Officer declined to transmit the polling-unit outcomes to the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee’s End result Viewing (IReV) portal regardless of repeated public calls for. The official reportedly mentioned an unnamed superior had instructed him to not add the figures and couldn’t disclose additional particulars.
The gang grew stressed, voices rising as some accused the officer of making an attempt to hide the outcomes. Cops finally intervened, escorting him away to stop mob violence.
“It wasn’t about who gained. Folks simply needed the outcome uploaded instantly so everybody might see it,” Okoronkwo recalled in an interview with Saturday Vanguard.
The incident was uncommon and didn’t replicate what occurred at many different polling items inside the faculty or throughout Abuja, the place outcomes had been efficiently transmitted. But for Okoronkwo, the expertise left an enduring impression: the credibility of elections, he realised, can hinge on a single procedural resolution at a single polling unit.
Three years later, as lawmakers debate the Electoral Act (Modification) Invoice 2026 forward of the 2027 basic elections, that very same query, whether or not outcomes should be uploaded instantly or on the discretion of officers, has turn into probably the most contested points in Nigeria’s electoral reform course of.
Legislative Divide Over Transparency
Each chambers of the Nationwide Meeting have handed differing variations of the modification invoice and constituted a joint convention committee to harmonise their positions earlier than forwarding the ultimate laws for presidential assent.
On the centre of the disagreement is the proposal for necessary real-time digital transmission of polling-unit outcomes.
The Home of Representatives accepted amendments requiring presiding officers to add outcomes instantly to the IReV portal alongside handbook collation, a measure supporters say would strengthen transparency and scale back alternatives for manipulation throughout outcome collation.
The Senate, nonetheless, retained the wording of the Electoral Act 2022, which permits digital transmission “in a way as prescribed by the Fee,” leaving the method discretionary underneath the electoral physique relatively than legally obligatory.
Some senators have insisted that digital transmission was not faraway from the legislation, arguing that inflexible statutory necessities might create operational and authorized problems in areas the place community protection is weak. Critics counter that the distinction between non-compulsory and necessary transmission might decide whether or not transparency is utilized uniformly nationwide.
Different Key Factors of Disagreement
Lawmakers are additionally divided over provisions aimed toward increasing voter entry and adjusting electoral timelines.
The Home accepted a measure permitting eligible voters whose bodily Everlasting Voter Playing cards are unavailable to obtain digital PVCs from the electoral fee’s portal, a proposal meant to stop disenfranchisement attributable to distribution delays. The Senate rejected the supply, sustaining reliance on bodily PVCs.
Variations additionally exist over electoral preparation timelines. The Senate model shortens the statutory discover interval for elections and reduces deadlines for submission and publication of candidate lists, whereas the Home model retains longer timelines designed to permit extra in depth preparation, logistics planning, and dispute decision.
Election observers resembling YIAGA Africa say the end result of the harmonisation course of will form not solely administrative procedures but in addition public confidence within the electoral system forward of the 2027 polls.
Public Reactions: ‘Historical past Is Watching’
The Senate’s choices have triggered sturdy reactions from activists, civil society teams, and political observers, a lot of whom warn that weakening transparency provisions might undermine already fragile public belief.
Usifo Osmond, a civic commentator, mentioned, “Nigeria should not transfer backward. What was voted by senators as an electoral reform weakens transparency and protects electoral malpractice. Historical past is watching.”
Political activist John Victor added, “Rejecting necessary real-time transmission retains the door open for manipulation at collation centres. Nigerians demanded stronger safeguards after 2023, not weaker ones.”
One other public commentator, Godwin Ochuko, mentioned, “Tampering with vital laws sends the mistaken sign to residents who already doubt the integrity of the system. Electoral reforms ought to strengthen belief, not weaken it.”
What the Remaining Legislation May Imply
For voters like Okoronkwo, the legislative debate is just not summary; it’s tied immediately as to if the subsequent election will really feel extra clear than the final.
“If the principles are clear and adopted all over the place, individuals will belief the method. However when issues rely on manipulations or the private choices of electoral officers with out clear guidelines that no person can clarify, that’s when suspicion begins,” he advised Saturday Vanguard.
Because the Nationwide Meeting’s convention committee works to reconcile the competing variations of the modification invoice, the choices it produces could decide greater than electoral procedures.
For hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who will as soon as once more queue earlier than daybreak to vote within the 2027 basic elections, the ultimate legislation could decide a extra profound difficulty: whether or not, after the ballots are counted, their votes will seem precisely when anticipated, free from any additional human interference or manipulation.
The put up 2027 Elections: The battle over result transmission appeared first on Vanguard News.
