The Senate on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act amendment bill after a five-hour clause-by-clause deliberation.
The bill was the only item listed on the order paper after a
valedictory session for the late Okey Ezea and was approved by the committee of
the whole following consideration and adoption of its 155 clauses.
Lawmakers amended some of the provisions, while the majority
of the clauses were retained as originally proposed.
One of the amendments reduced the timeline for the
Independent National Electoral Commission to publish a notice of election from
360 days to 180 days.
The senate also ruled out real-time transmission of election
results and retained the provision for electronic transfer of results as
provided for in the 2002 Electoral Act.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced that a joint
committee of the senate and house of representatives will meet to harmonise the
Act and send it to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
Niyi Adegbonmire, chairman of the senate committee on
judiciary, human rights and legal matters, will lead the harmonisation
committee from the upper legislative chamber.
Other members are Tahir Monguno, Adamu Aliero, Orji Kalu,
Abba Moro, Asuquo Ekpeyong, Aminu Abass, Tokunbo Abiru, and Simon Lalong.
Akpabio clarified that the senate did not remove the
electronic transmission of election results from the law.
“Distinguished colleagues, the social media is already awash
with reports that the Senate has literally rejected electronic transmission of
results,” he said.
“That is not true. What we did was to retain the electronic
transmission which has been in the act and was used in 2022.
“So please, do not allow people to confuse you. If you are
in doubt, we will make our final votes and proceedings available to you if you
apply.
“This Senate under my watch has not rejected the electronic
transmission of results. It is in my interest as a participant in the next
election for such to be done. So please don’t go with the crowd.
“We have retained what was in the previous provision by way
of amendment. That was all we did.
“The previous has made allowance for electronic
transmission. So, it is still there as part of our law. We cannot afford to be
going backwards.”
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