Dare Babalola
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan has publicly disagreed with her colleagues, expressing strong support for the real-time electronic transmission of election results.
Despite the Senate’s decision not to approve the measure, Akpoti-Uduaghan emphasised that undermining this process poses a significant threat to Nigeria’s democratic progress, describing such actions as a lethal assault on the country’s democracy.
In a post she made via Facebook on Thursday, the Kogi Central lawmaker wrote, “I, Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan support the realtime Electronic Transmission of results. Failure of such stealths a lethal assault to Nigeria’s democracy.”
On Wednesday, the Senate voted against a proposal seeking to compel the electronic transmission of election results, rejecting an amendment to Clause 60(3) of the Electoral Amendment Bill.
The amendment, which was debated during plenary, aimed to make it compulsory for presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit polling unit results electronically to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal in real time.
Under the proposal, transmission would occur after results had been entered on the prescribed Form EC8A, signed and stamped by the presiding officer, and countersigned by party agents.
Lawmakers, however, declined to adopt the provision and instead retained the existing wording of the Electoral Act.
The current law gives INEC the discretion to determine how results are transmitted, stating that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
By rejecting the amendment, the Senate effectively preserved INEC’s authority to decide the mode of results transmission, rather than making electronic upload to the IREV portal a statutory requirement.
