The Special Adviser to Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has accused the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) of spreading false claims about the Electoral Act, 2026.
On Thursday, opposition parties criticised the newly enacted law, labelling it “obnoxious”, a danger to democracy and an alleged attempt to establish a one-party state.
President Tinubu signed the amended Electoral Act into law on 18 February after its passage by the National Assembly. Among its major provisions are the electronic transmission of election results, with manual collation to serve as a contingency where technological systems fail. The law also stipulates that political parties must nominate candidates through direct primaries or consensus.
The ADC and NNPP rejected these provisions and urged the National Assembly to repeal and re-enact the legislation.
In a statement, Onanuga urged the parties to desist from “constant lamentation and unwarranted outrage” against the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government.
“The opposition, particularly the ADC, has turned irresponsible political statements into an art form, all in a bid to attract cheap headlines and mislead the public,” the statement reads.
“The opposition should stop exaggerating the effects of the new Electoral Act. Their inability to organise and their tendency to blame others for their own disorganisation and unpreparedness are evident.
“Contrary to their deliberate misinformation designed to incite the populace, the new Electoral Act, signed by President Tinubu, is a significant improvement over the repealed law, closing loopholes the opposition leaders sought to exploit for manipulation.”
Onanuga further alleged that opposition parties were collaborating with certain civil society organisations to mount a disinformation campaign against both the legislature and the administration.
Defending the legislation, he noted that it allows real-time transmission of election results while retaining form EC8A as a safeguard in the event of network disruption. He dismissed claims that the use of form EC8A creates opportunities for manipulation, describing such arguments as unrealistic given infrastructural challenges in parts of the country.
“Any reasonable Nigerian understands that network glitches are a real issue,” he said.
Addressing concerns about the Independent National Electoral Commission’s results viewing portal (IReV), Onanuga clarified that it is not a collation centre but a platform for uploading results for public access. He emphasised that form EC8 remains the principal document for validating election outcomes.
He also criticised the opposition’s rejection of direct primaries, calling their position “perplexing” and arguing that direct primaries and consensus arrangements are more democratic than the delegate-based system previously adopted by many parties.
Onanuga stated that lawmakers spent two years consulting stakeholders, technical experts and citizens, many of whom expressed concerns about the potential impact of technical failures on elections.
The presidential spokesman rejected suggestions that President Tinubu intends to transform Nigeria into a one-party state.
“In summary, the opposition is merely crying foul because the rules of the game have been adjusted to prevent manipulation, such as result hacking, which they have allegedly perfected,” he said.
He added that Nigeria remains home to more than a dozen registered political parties, including the ADC and NNPP, and argued that the opposition’s difficulties stem from internal disorganisation rather than any government effort to suppress dissent.