By By Elizabeth Ugbo
The Senate on Tuesday in Abuja passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Enactment) Bill, 2026, after a four-and-a-half-hour plenary session, approving all 155 clauses of the bill with amendments aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s electoral process.
During deliberations, lawmakers amended several clauses, while the majority were retained in their original form. A major amendment reduced the timeline for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish a notice of election from 360 days to 180 days.
The amendment was adopted following a motion moved by Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, who argued that the previous timeframe was unnecessarily long and could be streamlined to improve electoral efficiency.
The bill was passed after a marathon session that lasted about four and a half hours.
Meanwhile, amid public debate over the proceedings, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, dismissed reports suggesting that the Senate had rejected the electronic transmission of election results, describing such claims as misleading and a misrepresentation of the legislative process.
Akpabio said the controversy stemmed from extended deliberations on Clause 60, Subsection 3 of the bill, which was debated between 2:00pm and 6:26pm, triggering speculation that lawmakers had voted against mandatory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal.
However, the Senate President clarified that the chamber did not remove provisions for electronic transmission from the bill, stressing that reports claiming otherwise failed to accurately reflect the intent and outcome of the Senate’s resolutions.
He said his intervention was aimed at calming public concerns and correcting what he described as deliberate or careless misinterpretations, as the National Assembly continues efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s electoral framework ahead of future elections.
