Members of the Obidient Movement, a pro-Peter Obi political group, protested in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Friday, demanding that the Nigerian Senate pass a bill to mandate real-time electronic transmission of election results.
The protesters, led by activist Aisha Yesufu and a popular street demonstrator known as ‘flag boy,’ marched through the streets of Abuja carrying placards with several inscriptions, such as “Say No To Electoral Fraud,” “We Reject The Senate’s Rejection,” “Akpabio, E-Transmission Is A Must,” and “Transmission Is Progress, not Retrogression,” among others.
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The protesters announced a plan on Thursday night to stage demonstrations and besiege the National Assembly complex in Abuja to force Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the upper chamber to pass a bill to make the electronic transmission of election results into law.
Mr Akpabio has been accused of doctoring the country’s electoral act by announcing the rejection of the proposed amendment to make electronic transmission of election results compulsory after the Nigerian Senate had on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal & Enactment) Bill, 2026.
The leadership of the Senate had announced the retention of the 2022 framework, which mandates manual completion, signing, stamping, and distribution of results to party agents and security personnel, with results announced at polling units and transferred in a manner as prescribed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), without mandating electronic transmission.
Several individuals and groups, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Governor Peter Obi, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the Action Democratic Congress, condemned the Senate’s rejection of the bill mandating the electronic transmission of election results.
However, a group of senators on Thursday alleged that the leadership of the Senate announced something entirely different from what was passed by senators.
They accused Mr Akpabio of removing the passage of electronic transmission of election results from the electoral bill passed during Senate proceedings on Wednesday.
The senators, led by Enyinnaya Abaribe, Aminu Tambuwal, Ireti Kingigbe, and Natasha Akpoti, said they voted to retain electronic transmission of election results in the electoral bill, contrary to what the Senate leadership announced.
“To put the records straight, the Senate did not pass the transfer of results, which was in the 2022 Act. What we passed, and which the Senate president himself, when he was doing a clarification, sitting on his chair, is transmission of results,” Mr Abaribe said.