A coalition of civil society organisations has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s decision to sign the final amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act into law, describing the move as a missed opportunity to strengthen transparency and restore public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, the groups expressed concern over the omission of provisions for real-time electronic transmission of election results. They questioned the speed and opacity surrounding the bill’s passage by the National Assembly.
They noted that at a time when public confidence in elections remained fragile, this law should have decisively strengthened transparency, eliminated ambiguities, and deepened safeguards against manipulation. Instead, it created more vulnerabilities in the electoral process.
The coalition comprising the Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), the Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), ElectHer, and the Nigerian Women Trust Fund
TAF Africa and Yiaga Africa stated that the speed and opacity with which the bill was passed by the National Assembly and granted Presidential assent raised serious concerns about legislative transparency and the commitment of lawmakers to genuine electoral reform.
We register our profound concern about the process through which the Electoral Bill was passed between the third reading and the adoption of the harmonised version of the bill. The final version of the Bill voted upon reportedly contained last-minute amendments that were neither published nor made available to civil society or the broader public before adoption.
“More concerning is that the harmonised Bill produced by the Conference Committee was adopted by both chambers via voice vote without prior distribution of the final consolidated text to all members, as was reported by some legislators,” they said.
Furthermore, they noted that “debate on critical clauses, including provisions relating to real-time electronic transmission of results, was reportedly curtailed. Legislative changes introduced in the final hours before a vote, without publication, scrutiny, or structured debate, are inconsistent with the transparency standards expected in democratic lawmaking.
They added that the decision of the Presidency to grant assent without addressing the substantive legal, technical, and democratic concerns raised by civil society, professional bodies, and even some members of the National Assembly signals a troubling prioritisation of political expediency over electoral integrity.
“Electoral reform should be guided by broad consultation and consensus, not compressed timelines and executive finality. Yesterday was the darkest day in the history of democracy in Nigeria,’ they stated.
They, however, welcomed the Downloadable Voter Card, stating that the provision allowing a downloadable voter card from INEC’s website will increase voter participation and reduce disenfranchisement often associated with missing or unissued voter cards.
Another welcomed development was the Disability-Inclusive Voter Registration and Enhanced Penalties for Result Falsification.
Speaking on the way forward, the CSOs highlighted some immediate priorities for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which include, “issue a revised 2027 election timetable without delay, organise a national simulation exercise of IReV electronic transmission across all 176,866 polling units, with independent observers present,”
The Commission was also urged to publish a comprehensive technical report detailing success and failure rates; Geographical distribution of connectivity gaps; identified vulnerabilities; and Concrete remediation plans ahead of 2027.
Consequently, political parties were urged to “refuse to exploit any ambiguity surrounding IReV transmission. Parties should publicly commit that their agents will:
Insist on electronic transmission at every polling unit; Document and report suspicious “communication failures” in real time; and escalate concerns through lawful channels.
They also called on the National Assembly to promptly publish the final version of the Electoral Act 2026 as signed into law to ensure public awareness, legal clarity, and stakeholder engagement.
“In conclusion, the Electoral Act 2026 is now law. It is imperfect. It is incomplete. It leaves dangerous loopholes open and erects new barriers to participation. But it is also the legal framework within which the 2027 elections will be conducted, and it is our responsibility as citizens, media, civil society, etc., to ensure that the elections conducted under this law are credible, transparent, inclusive, and reflective of the will of the Nigerian people.
“The assent to the Electoral Act 2026 is not the end of the reform process. It is the beginning of the implementation phase and civil society will be present, vigilant, and vocal at every stage”, they said.
On his part, House of Representatives spokesman Akin Rotimi assured that their genuine concerns had been noted and would be referred to the House for further deliberations in the best interest of the country.
