Protesters besieged the National Assembly on Monday in resumption of their demand that real-time electronic transmission of election results be made mandatory in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2026.
Those involved included civil society groups like Situation Room and Action Aid, and called for the elimination of manual collation to prevent manipulation during the collation of results.
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According to online reports, the entrances to the complex were barricaded by security operatives, with the crowd forced to hold their protest outside the gates.
Added to the list of demands is full transparency and mandatory real-time e-transmission, as protesters insist that there is no justification for manual backups since the election budget already covers technological requirements.
Last Tuesday, the Senate reconvened for an emergency plenary to revisit its earlier decision on Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North), had moved to remove the phrase “real-time” and replace “transmission” with “transfer”, sparking objections from other senators, including Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South).
With deliberations concluded, electronic transmission to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal had been approved by the Senate.
However, manual collation as a backup was also allowed in case of technical failures.