Electoral Act Controversy: Akpabio Summons Emergency Plenary As Protest Looms
The Senate has announced an emergency plenary sitting for Tuesday amid mounting public outrage over its recent passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, particularly the rejection of a clause mandating real-time electronic transmission of election results.
The decision was disclosed on Sunday in a statement signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, who said all senators have been directed to reconvene for the session.
“The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has directed the reconvening of plenary for an emergency sitting on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026,” the statement read.
According to the notice, the emergency plenary will commence at 12 noon.
This comes as the Nigeria Labour Congress warned of potential nationwide protests and election boycotts over what it described as confusion and contradictory positions by the Senate on amendments to the Electoral Act, particularly regarding electronic transmission of election results.
The labour union accused the Senate of undermining public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process by failing to clearly state whether electronic transmission of results would be mandatory.
Also, a newly formed coalition of political activists under the banner of the Movement for Credible Elections strongly condemned the National Assembly’s decision to remove mandatory electronic transmission of election results from the proposed Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, describing the move as a “deliberate act of democratic sabotage.”
As part of its response, the coalition announced plans for a mass protest tagged “Occupy NASS”, scheduled for Monday (today) in Abuja.
This is happening a few days after the Senate passed the amendment bill on February 4, but voted down Clause 60(3), which sought to make it mandatory for presiding officers to electronically transmit election results directly from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing portal in real time.
The clause was designed to strengthen transparency and reduce manipulation in the collation process by ensuring immediate electronic upload of results.
Instead, lawmakers retained the existing discretionary provision on the “transfer” of results, which allows electronic transmission only after votes have been counted and publicly announced at polling units.
The decision has sparked widespread condemnation from civil society organisations, election observers and opposition figures, who described it as a major setback to electoral credibility and democratic reforms.
Furthermore, the House of Representatives’ bipartisan Conference Committee on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is set to meet with its Senate counterpart this week to resolve outstanding differences in the versions of the bill passed by both chambers.
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
