President says amendment Electoral Act strengthens process and boosts public trust, as NASS leaders highlight electronic transmission and January 2027 poll dates.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday defended the amended 2022 Electoral Act after signing the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) Bill into law at a brief ceremony in his office at the State House, Abuja.
The President said the amendments were not driven by partisan interests but by the need to strengthen electoral processes and close procedural gaps identified after previous election cycles.
“After every election cycle, we owe Nigerians an honest look at what worked and what must work better. That is how serious democracies behave, and our laws must grow with experience,” Tinubu said.
He stressed that the amendments were aimed at strengthening procedures and building public confidence in elections.
“These amendments are not about politics. They are about process. They are about closing gaps, strengthening procedures, and providing greater clarity to those who conduct and participate in our elections.
“When citizens walk into a polling unit, they must do so with confidence. When results are declared, they must be trusted. That confidence is built deliberately, and not by chance,” he added.
Tinubu thanked the National Assembly for what he described as its cooperation and sense of national responsibility in concluding the amendment process, assuring Nigerians that efforts to strengthen democracy would continue.
Speaking after the ceremony, Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said the amended law would ensure that every vote counts and significantly enhance transparency in future elections.
He noted that the agitation for mandatory electronic transmission of results had been accommodated in the new Act, including formal recognition of the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
According to Akpabio, results from polling units will be transmitted electronically, with provisions made for areas lacking network coverage. In such cases, results would be uploaded once connectivity is available, while signed hard copies from polling units would remain the primary source of collation.
He said the reform would allow Nigerians to compare uploaded results with collated figures, thereby reducing the risk of manipulation after results leave polling units.
Akpabio also disclosed that the amendment provides clearer rules in cases where a candidate who scored the highest votes is later disqualified by a court. Rather than declaring a candidate with significantly fewer votes as winner, a fresh election would be conducted.
He added that the new law strengthens internal democracy within political parties by expanding participation in direct primaries and enhancing members’ roles in candidate selection.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, revealed that one of the key changes in the amendment was the reduction of the statutory notice period for elections from 360 days to 300 days.
He explained that the adjustment would result in presidential and National Assembly elections being held in January 2027 instead of February, thereby avoiding a potential clash with the Ramadan period and helping to reduce voter apathy.
Abbas described the amendment as a proactive step by the National Assembly to improve electoral participation and credibility ahead of the 2027 general elections.
