Mr. Mike Igini, a lawyer and former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), has said a controversial clause in the ongoing Electoral Act Amendment Bill regarding electronic transmission of polling unit results could affect the reelection prospects of many members of the National Assembly (NASS) in the 2027 general elections, a statement published on Monday said.
Igini said the clause that qualifies the requirement for real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) could create legal and procedural vulnerabilities that may influence electoral outcomes.
He urged lawmakers to consider the potential consequences as the National Assembly reviews divergent versions of the Electoral Act amendment.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday, Igini said that previous Assemblies that failed to resolve weaknesses in the legal framework for election result transmission experienced high turnover rates.
He said unresolved electoral issues had contributed to incumbent federal lawmakers losing seats in past election cycles.
Igini cited historical data showing high turnover rates in both the Senate and the House of Representatives across multiple electoral cycles between 2007 and 2023, saying that legislative instability often followed disputes linked to result reporting and collation.
He said an ambiguous or weakened provision on electronic transmission from polling units could limit the ability of voters expressed preferences to be clearly reflected during result collation at higher levels.
Igini highlighted that publicly viewable results from IReV are designed to deter manipulation at collation centres.
Igini urged senators and members of the House of Representatives to remove the qualifying proviso and restore a mandatory real-time electronic transmission clause in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
He said such transmission would help ensure that results from polling units are uploaded directly and immediately to the central portal.
He also said that the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution empower INEC to regulate electoral procedures, including the use of technology for result transmission, and that preserving strong provisions could support electoral transparency.
