Wednesday, February 11, 2026 - growing criticism over the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act, African Democratic Congress, ADC, chieftain Kenneth Okonkwo has urged the Senate to completely expunge provisions allowing manual transmission of election results.
Speaking on Tuesday during an appearance on Politics Today
on Channels Television, Okonkwo insisted that results must be transmitted
directly from polling units to curb manipulation.
“Once they put that law that you must transmit from the
polling unit, I am okay. So any polling officer would not leave the polling
unit,” the actor-turned politician said.
He further argued that elections should be annulled where
electronic transmission fails.
According to him, “The House of Representatives should go
further to say that where it is not possible to transmit from the polling unit,
that election should be cancelled.”
Responding to concerns over whether cancelling an election
due to failed electronic transmission would be fair, Okonkwo maintained that
the entire electoral process revolves around credible results.
“The reason you are doing accreditation; voting is for the
result. If you do all these things to get a fraudulent result, what have you
gained? You have actually emboldened the criminals. The only problem we have in
this country is fraudulent elections”
“On the day we have free and fair elections in Nigeria, 20
years after that, we would become a superpower nation. America is sustained
Today because power lies with the people.”
He blamed Nigeria’s slow development on elections plagued by
irregularities and stressed that democracy belongs to the people, not to any
political party, whether ADC or the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Okonkwo called on citizens to collectively defend and
sustain democratic governance in the country.
The controversy follows the passage of the Electoral Act
Amendment Bill by the Senate last week, where lawmakers rejected the proposal
for real-time electronic transmission of results under Clause 60(3).
However, they retained provisions from the 2022 Act granting
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) discretion over how
results are transmitted.
The decision sparked outrage from opposition figures, who
warned that it could weaken Nigeria’s democratic process. Protests were also
staged at the National Assembly.
In response to the backlash, the Senate on Tuesday reviewed
its position and approved electronic transmission of results, removing the
“real-time” requirement.
It also ruled that in cases of poor internet connectivity,
Form EC8A would serve as the primary document for result collation.
During an emergency plenary session, lawmakers set up a
committee to reconcile the Senate’s version of the bill with that of the House
of Representatives, following public discontent over some of the proposed
amendments.
0 Comments