Nigeria: Tinubu Signs Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 Into Law, Commends Lawmakers for Preventing 'Potential Hacking'

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday signed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 into law, despite agitations from Nigerians over a controversial clause that makes electronic transmission of election results optional.

The president assented to the bill during a brief ceremony at the Presidential Villa attended by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House of Representatives Abbas Tajudeen, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, and other government officials.

With the presidential assent, the bill has now become law, meaning subsequent elections in Nigeria will be conducted in line with the amended provisions.

The two chambers of the National Assembly passed the bill on Tuesday after months of debate and deliberations. Although the legislation contains about 154 clauses, Clause 60, which makes electronic transmission of results optional, generated the most controversy.

Initially, the House of Representatives passed a version of the bill in December mandating the electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission's Result Viewing Portal (IReV) immediately after vote counting.

The Senate, however, rejected mandatory electronic transmission and retained the provision in the 2022 Electoral Act allowing results to be transmitted to collation centres without making electronic transmission compulsory.

The Senate's position attracted criticism from many Nigerians, who urged lawmakers to adopt the House's earlier version.

However, on Tuesday, the Senate re-amended its decision and resolved that electronic transmission would remain optional. The provision includes a caveat that, in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A will serve as the primary means of result c

Form EC8A is the primary document on which the presiding officer records the results immediately after votes are counted at a polling unit. In election petitions, courts often rely heavily on EC8A forms because they represent the first official record of votes at the source.

Some Nigerians and civil society organisations were still dissatisfied with the caveat. Protests were held at the National Assembly, and several stakeholders continued to agitate, prompting the Senate to reconvene and vote on the matter again.

During the plenary on Tuesday, senators voted by division to determine whether electronic transmission should be mandatory or optional.

A total of 55 senators, including Deputy Minority Leader Oyewunmi Olalere and Adamawa North Senator, Amos Yohana of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), voted to retain the optional provision. Mr Olalere was acting as the minority leader at the time of the vote.

Fifteen senators, including Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh (Anambra), Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi), Ireti Kingibe (FCT), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Abdul Ningi (Bauchi), voted in support of making electronic transmission mandatory.

Mr Akpabio subsequently announced that the Senate would retain its earlier position, making electronic transmission optional rather than mandatory.

The House of Representatives, which had earlier passed the bill with mandatory electronic transmission, later reversed its position during plenary on Tuesday and adopted the Senate's version.

After the passage of the bill, several Nigerians, including civil society organisations monitoring elections, called on President Tinubu to withhold assent unless the provision was amended to make electronic transmission of results to INEC IREV mandatory. However, the president signed the bill into law.

Tinubu's remarks

At the signing ceremony, Mr Tinubu commended lawmakers, particularly the principal officers, for managing the controversy surrounding the bill until its final passage and transmission for presidential assent.

"It's not as important as the historical aspects of this. What is crucial is the fact that you manage the process to the extent that there will be no confusion, no disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and that we are all going to see democracy flourish.

"No matter how good the system is, it's managed by the people, promoted by the people, and the result is finalised by the people," he said.

Tinubu's position on electronic transmission

The president expressed support for the lawmakers' decision, insisting that the amendment would still allow transparency while minimising technical disruptions.

He argued that Nigeria may not yet have the technical capacity to sustain mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results and urged Nigerians to question the country's broadband capability instead.

"In fact, for final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the final results. And when you look at the crux of various arguments, maybe Nigerians should question our broadband capability. How technically are we today? How technically will we be tomorrow to answer the call of either real-time or not?

"And as long as you appear personally, as a manual voter in any polling booth, a ballot paper is given to you manually, you decide in a corner and thumbprint the passing of your choice, you cast your votes, without hindrance and any interference, ballots are subsequently counted manually, sorted, and counted manually," he added.

Avoid glitches and hacking

Mr Tinubu maintained that relying on Form EC8A as the basis for collation would reduce the risk of technical glitches.

He commended lawmakers for making electronic transmission optional, saying it would help prevent interference and potential hacking.

"It's just the arithmetic accuracy that is to enter into Form EC8A. It's the manual, essentially. The transmission of that manual result is what we're looking at. And we need to avoid glitches. I'm glad you did -- interference, unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness.

"Nigeria will be there. We will flourish. We will continue to nurture this democracy for the fulfilment of our dream for the prosperity and stability of our country," the president said.

This article originally appeared on Premium Times