Working to the answer on Electoral Act amendment, by Adekunle Adekoya

2026-02-20 - 01:07

After weeks of back-and-forth, the National Assembly just passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill into law. We all witnessed the legislative histrionics that attended the legislation, right up to its conclusion with its signing into law by the President. I call it legislative histrionics because it appears that as a collective, the National Assembly, comprising the Senate and House of Representatives displayed instability that portrayed distorted institutional image. It will be recalled that there had been a growing clamour for a law that will make it mandatory for the electoral umpire, INEC to transmit election results electronically in real time from the polling units to its Results Viewing Portal, or iREV. This clamour arose from our collective experience with INEC itself and the Judiciary. Nigerians were stupefied when, during litigation over outcomes of the 2019 elections, INEC said it has no server. I thought that was a bare-faced lie by an institution in which the public had invested much trust. Another issue that further triggered the clamour was when the highest court in the land, while adjudicating the 2023 presidential election dispute ruled that IREV was just a viewing centre, which did not have the force of law. The outcomes of the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, and the winners declared fuelled the belief that the elections did not meet minimum acceptable standards, especially as indicated in the reports of many local and international observer groups Now, with 2019 and 2023 elections behind us, it is only appropriate that Nigerians take steps to avoid electoral outcomes that will be in contention, hence the clamour for a law that will make it mandatory for INEC to do real time e-transmission of results. If wishes were horses, that was easier thought about than done. Apparently, what the people want is at variance with what the rulers want. Back to the National Assembly. The Senate reconvened and passed the amendment, but did not include any clause for mandatory e-transmission. Expectedly, an uproar greeted this, with some opposition senators disclosing that majority of them, about two-thirds of their numbers actually supported and wanted mandatory real-time e-transmission of results. Earlier, last year, the House of Representatives had passed the bill, with that clause. For it to become law, both chambers had to harmonise the versions passed earlier. Then the exponents of sakamanje, that Nigerian specialty that enables a tough task to become a walk-in-the-park, took over. First, members of the House of Representatives who were to attend the joint committee with senators to harmonise the bill started a hide-and-seek game that forced postponements of the meeting about three times in one day till it became a nocturnal meeting. The following day, lo and behold, after plenary, it came to light that they had passed the amendment bill just as the Senate did. On Wednesday, the President, with lightning speed, assented to the bill, saying that “e-transmission of election results cannot replace manual collation. You probably are well-informed about these developments, anyway, but what bothers me is that once again, the people have been short-changed by those they thought would look out for them, in matters of election. I really did not expect that the NASS would legislate what the people wanted into law; it had looked on since inauguration, perhaps helplessly, perhaps connivingly, perhaps unconcernedly as the executive formulated and implemented policies that had the singular impact of deepening despair and not renewing hope in any way. From the peremptory removal of petrol subsidy which foisted greater hardship on the people and deepened poverty, to the award of a N15 trillion coastal highway project without due appropriation, NASS as an institution has let it be known whose bidding it would do, and on which side of the fence it would sit. It is crystal clear that the legislators are not on the side of the people. Which is fine by them. What is not fine by me, and will never make sense to me is how as a country, we are deliberately investing in a business that is bound to fail. It reminds me of those who undertake to go to Europe by first crossing the unforgiving Sahara Desert, and thence crossing the Mediterranean Ocean in rickety, overloaded boats. Most of them barely survive the bid. And now, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had submitted a budget of N873 billion for the 2027 elections. In dollar terms that comes to $623,571,428.571, at prevailing exchange rate of N1,400 to the USD. That bill probably makes ours the most expensive election on the planet. My worry is, as a collective, are we not just going to spend this gargantuan sum of money on an exercise whose outcome we may still not be satisfied with? In fact, why bother with election at all, if the ruling party already has 29 of 36 states under its control? Does it mean that there may still be need to resort to the old, bad ways of winning elections, in spite of all the defections and an opposition that is being helped, daily, to become ineffective and of little or no consequence? Do our leaders really believe in God? If they do, do they fear HIM? With the president’s comments at the signing of the Electoral Act amendment bill into law, it became clear that NASS was working to the answer. Will their answer favour Nigeria? Let’s wait and see. TGIF.