Sowore spoke on Wednesday during Channels Television’s The Morning Brief while reacting to the controversy surrounding the amendment of the Electoral Act, particularly the provision on the transmission and collation of election results.
The Senate had, on Tuesday, approved electronic transmission of results but retained a clause allowing manual collation in areas where internet services are unavailable — a decision that has continued to spark criticism across the country.
According to Sowore, lawmakers are unwilling to strengthen electoral safeguards because such reforms would threaten their political survival.
“This claim that some states do not have network coverage is just another excuse,” he said.
“They are afraid of transparent elections because once elections become truly transparent, 90 per cent of those sitting in the National Assembly — and even those occupying other elected offices, including the presidency — will not be there.”
He described the decision to keep manual collation as a subtle attempt to weaken the impact of electronic transmission of results.
“The way the amendment was done is clever by half,” Sowore said, adding that the clause creates a window for what he called a return to the traditional and compromised system of declaring election results.
He argued that retaining manual procedures undermines public confidence in the credibility of elections and keeps open opportunities for manipulation.
Sowore also criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission’s result management infrastructure, particularly the IREV platform, saying the system no longer reflects global best practices.
He said Nigeria should move beyond transmitting results electronically and embrace full electronic voting.
“I am not impressed by these outdated arrangements,” he said.
“By now, Nigeria should be looking at what countries like India are doing. India conducts elections for about 900 million registered voters using electronic voting, and the process is close to foolproof.”
He noted that the number of registered voters in Nigeria is far smaller and should not pose a technological challenge.
“We have about 90 million voters here. If India can do it, there is no reason we should not be able to adopt electronic voting,” he said.
Sowore further questioned why electronic voting is considered unrealistic when Nigerians already carry out sensitive transactions digitally.
He said citizens are able to transfer money, access personal records and conduct secure online activities daily, yet the country continues to rely on manual systems for choosing political leaders.
According to him, unless Nigeria adopts deeper technological reforms in its electoral process, public trust in elections will continue to decline and democratic progress will remain limited.
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