Opposition rejects amended Electoral Act
Leaders of the major opposition political parties in Nigeria have rejected the Amended Electoral Act 2026, recently signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Consequently, they asked the National Assembly to immediately commence a fresh process of amendment, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of plot to use the amendment to rig the […]
Leaders of the major opposition political parties in Nigeria have rejected the Amended Electoral Act 2026, recently signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Consequently, they asked the National Assembly to immediately commence a fresh process of amendment, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of plot to use the amendment to rig the 2027 elections.
President Tinubu recently signed the Electoral Act into law, after an amendment by the National Assembly.
However, the process was dogged by controversy and protests from the opposition and civil society organisations, who insisted on the real time transmission of election results against the manual proviso included by the lawmakers.
Some opposition lawmakers also disagreed with the majority All Progressives Congress, APC lawmakers and staged a walk out in the process.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the National Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, Alhaji Ajuji Ahmed, said leaders of Nigeria’s major opposition political parties have a shared aspiration to save democracy and Nigeria from impending failure and collapse.
Some of the opposition leaders present at the briefing were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President and Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) David Mark, former Anambra governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi and former governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi. The opposition leaders comprised members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
While describing the Electoral Act as “anti-democratic Electoral Act, 2026”, Ahmed said the opposition considered several provisions of the Act signed into law by President Tinubu as a “major offensive by the APC administration to subvert the will of the people in the 2027 general elections.”
The leaders, however, assured Nigerians that the opposition are standing in unity and shall “meet the ongoing shenanigans with equal resolve. We urge the people not to be deterred or be discouraged.”
The opposition said they are therefore, “unequivocally, saying that the new Electoral Act is anti-democratic, and its implementation will undermine electoral transparency and sanctity of the ballot which are fundamental to free, fair and credible elections and the bedrock of participatory democracy.
“This obnoxious Electoral Act, is without doubt enacted to undermine democracy in Nigeria and it is part of the on-going design by the Tinubu-led APC to disorganise and weaken opposition, corrupt the electoral system, compromise democratic institutions and foist a totalitarian one-party rule on Nigeria.
“Therefore, we, as patriotic leaders, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigerians, reject the new Electoral Act.”
Giving some of the reasons for the rejection, Ahmed said the introduction of the proviso in Section 60(3), which allows wide and undefined discretionary powers to the presiding officer, overrides and negates the purpose of introducing electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
“This negation is unambiguously intended to provide a blank cheque to those who seek to manipulate election results by delaying the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV on the pretext of network failure.
“The premise of the proviso in Section 60(3) is the unavailability or possibility of network failure. We find this premise dubious and inconsistent with reality. The immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, stated on record that the BVAS equipment, which operates offline, had worked with over 90% success rate across the nation, and in the event of network failure at the point of transmission, the transmitted results would be delivered successfully whenever network is available,” he said.
The opposition said this position has been further confirmed recently by the former INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access.
Apart from the two former Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC officers, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said as at 2023, they had achieved more than 95% 2G coverage, which is more than sufficient for transmission of election results from polling units, adding that the capacity for 24 hour coverage of the entire country goes to show that denying mandatory real-time transmission of election results from the polling units on the basis of lack of communication network is not supported by evidence.
The opposition parties said the no-network argument is “fraudulent and is merely part of the APC game-plan to rig the election in 2027.
“Indeed, we find it quite ironic that the same APC that strongly agitated for electronic voting only a few years ago is now opposed to the use of technology for mere transmission of results. The game at hand is very clear.”
Internal affairs of political parties
While also accusing the National Assembly of hijacking the independence of political parties, the opposition leaders said the amendment to Section 84 of the Act, limiting political parties to direct primaries and consensus for the purpose of selection of candidates is “clearly an overreach on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of political parties in the exercise of their internal affairs.
“The National Assembly cannot hide under the provision of Section 228(b) of the Constitution to restrict political parties to only two methods of nomination. There is nothing undemocratic about indirect primaries, which create an electoral college for the selection of candidates in an objective, transparent and orderly manner.”
They insisted that the mode of nominating candidates should be strictly the internal affairs of political parties, “there can only be one reason for this particular amendment: to create chaos and disorder in the ranks of opposition political parties in the hope that they would not be able to present a candidate and President Tinubu would be the only serious candidate in the 2027 Presidential election.
“What they are working towards is the coronation of Tinubu in 2027. Therefore, we find this amendment in bad faith and we reject it outright. In the coming days, we shall explore every constitutional means to cure this indirect hijack of the independence of political parties.”
They commended the opposition lawmakers, who despite “intimidation and harassment stood firmly against anti-democratic forces in both chambers and in defence of democracy.
“In the same token, we condemn the transactional conduct of those lawmakers who initially supported the progressive provisions of the legislation only to capitulate when it mattered most.
“At the appropriate time, the people would remember those who stood in defence of their democratic aspirations and those who sold the will of the people for a mess of pottage.”
Verdict on FCT council elections
Speaking on the recently held Federal Capital Territory council elections, the opposition said many Nigerians were surprised by the “desperate haste with which President Tinubu signed this anti-democratic law without even bothering to study it.”
Ahmed said Nigerians also wondered at the speed from the president on this electoral law, while he “continues to prevaricate, waiver and dawdle over other serious legislations, policies and actions that could actually improve the lives of citizens. But then, the FCT local government elections came and it all became clear.”
He said the most important lesson that the opposition learnt from the FCT election is that “President Tinubu and his APC do not care about free and fair election”, adding that “it is quite clear that the very fear of free and fair election is what led them to mutilate the electoral law and insert loopholes that they could exploit for rigging and manipulation, especially at the collation stage.
“We saw it clearly in the FCT election where votes claimed by the APC outstripped the total number of accredited voters by several folds. We, in the opposition therefore, condemn that election as disgustingly fraudulent. But more importantly, it provides practical evidence of what the APC intends to achieve with Section (60) 3 of the new Act.”
The opposition, therefore, considers the” blatant rigging of the FCT election as a wake-up call. “We have given the new INEC chairman the benefit of the doubt. The FCT election was his litmus test and from what we have seen, he has failed to convince us that anything would change under his watch, therefore, telling us that we can only trust in our capacity and determination to protect our votes.”
Attacks on opposition leaders
The leaders also said the recent assault on leaders of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Edo State highlights the growing acts of political violence and intolerance in Nigeria.
While condemning the development, they said “Democracy thrives on healthy competition of ideas, not on thuggery, and unprovoked criminal unleashing of raw violence on the opposition.
“We have seen this in Lagos State. Only last Saturday, one of the ADC party agents was brutally killed during the FCT election. This culture of intolerance, thuggery, and violence against opposition party leaders, therefore, poses a potent danger to democracy and national stability. This is dangerous and completely unacceptable.
“It is quite ironic indeed that the APC, a political party that rode to power under an atmosphere of political liberty and tolerance has now committed itself to re-establishing the dangerous culture of violence and thuggery that we thought our politics had outgrown as a democracy.
“We reiterate that no political grievance can justify the use of violence, the shedding of blood and the killing of citizens. We, and all compatriots, as well as those who cherish the institutionalisation of democracy in Nigeria will, therefore, never accept a return to the days of politics based on violence. We will not be cowed. We will not be intimidated.”
Weaponisation of judiciary
The opposition leaders said while the judiciary is supposed to be the final arbiter in election cases, “unfortunately, we have witnessed in recent years how the very institution that is meant to protect democracy has been weaponised against democracy itself.
“We, therefore, wish to remind the judiciary that partisan politics is for the executive and the legislature, not the judiciary. The judiciary must stop being complicit in undermining our democracy. What we have witnessed in recent times represents strong evidence that our judiciary is in dire need of reform and the temple of justice is in need of deep cleansing.”
The leaders said a situation where elections are rigged and those who participate in such criminality are quick to say “if you are not happy, go to court” has done immeasurable damage to our democratic progress and it must be stopped.
They insisted that “electoral outcomes must be decided by the people, and not the courts”.
They also urged Nigerians to be alert as the country is “being pushed to the precipice by the very institutions that are vested with the constitutional powers to uphold and defend our democracy.
“The trust deficit widens exponentially on a daily basis. Citizen disengagement, voter apathy, the erosion of rule of law, and the desecration of our institutions have become emblematic of our democracy. Majority of our people are losing faith in democracy. This is a very dangerous trend that we can only arrest by truly handing power back to the people.”
According to the opposition, the APC government and their accomplices in the legislature only used the electoral act to provide “a legal pretext for the corruption of the electoral system”, adding, “we demand that the National Assembly immediately commences a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians”.
Also present at the briefing were; former Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, former governor of Osun State and the National Secretary of the ADC, Rauf Aregbesola, former National Chairman of the ADC, Ralph Nwosu, Salihu Lukman, Senator Dino Melaye, Buba Galadima, among others.
Nigerians should rise– Buba Galadima
Speaking on the role of citizens, a chieftain of the NNPP, Buba Galadima, said Nigerians need to rise up to their responsibility, adding “I don’t think this should be left only to politicians. It is the duty of everybody in Nigeria — everybody — to protect this democracy.
“Yesterday, something happened which a lot of people didn’t notice in Kano. There was a massive protest by ordinary citizens who saw the high-handedness of the authorities in trying to stifle people from speaking their minds, and they protested.”
According to him, whoever speaks against the government or against the federal government is simply being picked up by the DSS and locked up.
“It reached a crescendo the day before yesterday (Wednesday) when a young man was abducted from a radio station, taken to the DSS headquarters, and a judge was invited in the night to send that boy to gaol.
“This is what our country has become. I want to tell you — I’m 78, as I stand before you here, I’m not supposed to be in the trenches again; I should be resting. And yet some of us found it very expedient to still lead the way, such that the young among us would imbibe this culture of freedom,” he said.
He explained that it is time for Nigerians to begin to believe that this country belongs to everyone and that leaders are just people among equals.
Opposition to amendment unwarranted – Presidency
The presidency, in its reaction, said the opposition are only making false allegations “in a bid to impose their will on Nigerians and the legislature.”
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement yesterday, said the National Assembly enacted an amendment to the Electoral Act that allows for the real-time transmission of election results and the use of Form EC8A as a backup in the event of network failure, stressing that the opposition’s claim that Form EC8A creates a loophole for manipulation “is illogical and a needless tantrum by those who should know better”.
“Any reasonable Nigerian understands that network glitches are a real issue. The 2026 Electoral Act does not prohibit real-time transmission; it simply stipulates that if transmission fails, the result recorded on Form EC8A shall be deemed valid.
“Moreover, the role of IReV (INEC Results Viewing Portal) must not be misunderstood by the opposition. IReV is not a collation centre; it is a platform for uploading results for public viewing. The primary source for validating election results remains Form EC8.”
On the rejection of the use of direct primaries as a means of selecting party candidates, the Presidency said “it is perplexing why the opposition is crying over the inclusion of direct primaries and consensus voting, rather than the corrupt delegate system they prefer.
“The opposition should be grateful to the National Assembly for removing delegate-based primaries and restoring party ownership to its members “adding that the opposition’s claim that the National Assembly ignored Nigerians’ wishes is a total falsehood.”
He added: “A recurring refrain from the disorganised opposition is the false allegation that President Tinubu aims to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. Such cheap shots reveal their hollowness and lack of reason.
“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.
“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.”
Opposition’s rejection of Electoral Act unhelpful – Prof Kari
A political analyst, Prof. Umar Kari, has described the opposition’s outright rejection of the amended Electoral Act as “unhelpful,” urging instead sustained pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prioritise electronic transmission of results.
Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Kari said while there are aspects of the law that many Nigerians found acceptable, the major grievance centred on the provision allowing manual transmission of results in the event of failure of electronic upload.
“I think there are certain aspects of the amendment that are fine, or seemingly so. However, the grievance of most Nigerians is that particular one about real-time transmission of election results electronically,” he said.
He said rather than rejecting the law wholesale, the opposition should “continue to work with civil society and other Nigerians in pointing out the dangers portrayed by that particular position.
“INEC can still transmit electronically. The only thing is that there is now a window that in the event of failure to transmit, then the thing can be done manually. It is an exception. The last option is an exception. It shouldn’t be the rule,” he said.
He cautioned that total rejection of the Act could have far-reaching consequences for the 2027 general elections.
“Now, it is virtually impossible to do anything, because they will bring about the issue of time, which is actually true anyway,” he said.
Electoral law can still be amended – Lawyer
A Kano-based legal luminary, Barrister Umar Usman Danbaito, said the law could be legally amended, though “looking at the predicament, the president may not succumb to the pressure since it will be against his interest”.
He said, “Basically, a law could be amended at any point. If a president assented or signed a law today, if there is any lacuna in that law, you know the legislators can take legislative processes to amending the law. That is why you will see that even in United States of America in their constitution, there are several amendments.
“So, equally in Nigeria, any law, for example, if a legislator passed the law today and immediately after passing the law, they discover some anomalies and problems in the law, anybody from the legislators or from the side of executive can sponsor another bill for the amendment of that law. So, I think there is nothing wrong in calling for further amendment of the electoral act.