Senate Passes Bill Mandating Electronic Transmission of Election Results
The Senate has passed a bill mandating the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
The bill, which was passed on Tuesday, provides that election results shall be transmitted electronically to IREV after the results have been duly entered on the appropriate forms and signed by the INEC officer in charge, as well as party agents where available.
The proposed legislation enjoyed near-unanimous support among senators during deliberations.
However, proceedings briefly took a dramatic turn when Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe called for a division, requesting that the bill be subjected to individual voting. The request was initially accepted by the chamber, with senators agreeing to proceed accordingly.
Moments later, Senator Abaribe sought to withdraw his motion after realising that no senator was opposed to the bill. He appealed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to allow him vacate the motion. The request, however, was met with resistance from senators who insisted that the voting process should proceed as earlier agreed.
In a further appeal, Senator Mohammed Ningi urged the chamber to reconsider in order to spare Abaribe what he described as an unnecessary embarrassment. Senate President Akpabio also appealed to senators, after which the chamber agreed to allow the motion for individual voting to be withdrawn.
With the withdrawal accepted, the bill was passed without a division, reinforcing the Senate’s broad consensus in favour of electronic transmission of election results.
The passage of the bill marks a significant development in Nigeria’s ongoing electoral reform process and is expected to further enhance transparency and public confidence in future elections.
