The senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, has described President Bola Tinubu’s decision to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026 into law as inevitable, stating that the legislative process clearly indicated that outcome.
Umeh made the remarks on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday, explaining that the political and legislative dynamics surrounding the bill made the President’s assent unavoidable.
“There is no surprise that it will be so. Anybody who was expecting the president not to assent to the bill is perhaps not honest to himself or herself. The whole process was predicted to end this way, and that’s what we have seen.
“Seeing what played out in both chambers of the National Assembly, one will be expecting that at the end, the president will veto the National Assembly or say that he doesn’t want to assent to the bill…because everything was tailored to meet a certain end,” he said.
Umeh linked the controversy to debates over electronic transmission of election results, particularly the provision now contained in Section 63 of the amended law.
He explained that the repealed Electoral Act 2022, previously Section 65, provided for the transfer of results in a manner prescribed by the electoral commission but did not explicitly mandate electronic transmission.
According to him, although the commission’s guidelines for the 2023 general election required electronic transmission, the law itself did not expressly state it.
He noted that disputes arising from the 2023 election process, especially allegations of technical glitches affecting the presidential poll, led to litigation that eventually reached the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Umeh said the court ruled that electronic transmission “was not expressly recognised by the Act,” even though the Independent National Electoral Commission had the authority to determine the mode of result transfer.
He stated that lawmakers introduced the amendment to provide clear statutory backing for electronic transmission and prevent similar disputes in future elections.
Inside NASS Deliberations
Reflecting on proceedings within the National Assembly of Nigeria, Umeh explained that the Senate initially passed a version similar to the 2022 provision, while the House of Representatives adopted mandatory electronic transmission following recommendations from joint committees.
He revealed that disagreements arose within the Senate after lawmakers removed the mandatory transmission clause and reverted to the broader phrase “transfer of results,” prompting protests from some members.
“When that mandatory transmission was expunged and returned to ‘transfer’ as contained in Section 65 of the Act, we made noise. We went public. We said that wasn’t what we agreed to in the Senate executive session,” he said.
After public backlash, he said the Senate reconsidered the clause and reinstated electronic transmission but included a proviso permitting exceptions in cases of communication failure, a development that sparked fresh controversy.
Umeh argued that the proviso could undermine the reform’s objective.
“If you make a law and say, ‘provided that there will be no communication failure,’ you’re already proposing that there will be a communication failure.
“Once you say if this happens, you can jettison electronic transmission, you have opened the door back to anybody who will claim that there was no internet or communication availability,” he said.
Passage and Presidential Assent
The amendment to the Electoral Act generated significant public debate. Key provisions include electronic transmission of results, digital voter identification through QR codes, mandatory linkage of the National Identification Number for voter registration, and voting rights for inmates.
Civil society groups under the “Occupy NASS” campaign called for real-time transmission to reduce manipulation, while opposition figures such as Peter Obi and Rotimi Amaechi advocated the same position.
Lawmakers remained divided over whether electronic transmission should be compulsory or conditional, with some arguing that Nigeria’s infrastructure challenges required retaining manual collation as a contingency measure.
The National Assembly passed the bill on Tuesday, 17 February, following a tense session marked by cross-party disagreements. The Senate adopted a conditional approach allowing manual collation where technological failures occur.
President Tinubu signed the legislation into law on Wednesday, 18 February, citing concerns over limited broadband coverage, possible technical glitches and cybersecurity threats.
He stressed that human officials ultimately determine election outcomes, not technology alone.
The amended Act formally recognises the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System as the sole mandatory accreditation method, revises the election timetable ahead of the 2027 polls, and increases penalties for electoral offences, including stricter sanctions for the illegal trade in voter cards.