Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said that President Bola Tinubu is expected to sign the amended Electoral Act into law this month.
Akpabio made the remark on Tuesday during an emergency plenary session, where lawmakers constituted a 12-member committee to harmonise the Senate’s version of the bill with that passed by the House of Representatives.
The session followed widespread backlash over some amendments to the Act.
“I believe that if you are able to conclude this in the next few days or one week, the president should be able to sign this amended Electoral Bill into an Act of Parliament within this month of February,” Akpabio told the lawmakers.
Recall that the Senate, on Tuesday, rescinded its earlier decision on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, where it rejected the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
Following the reversal, the upper chamber re-amended the Electoral Bill to accommodate the electronic transmission of election results, introducing conditions to guide its implementation.
Under the new provision, electronic transmission of results is permitted; however, where internet connectivity fails, the manually completed Form EC8A will serve as the primary source for result collation and declaration.
Despite the amendment, electronic transmission of results is not made mandatory. Instead, the provision allows for electronic transmission while retaining a fallback option in the event of network or technical challenges.
The decision was reached after the adoption of a motion moved by the Senate Chief Whip, Tahir Monguno (Borno North), during an emergency plenary session.
Presenting the motion, Monguno said the decision to rescind the Senate’s earlier rejection of electronic transmission was informed by the need to align the Electoral Act with the wishes of Nigerians.
“This amendment is to bring our laws to make it a replica of the wishes and aspirations of the people,” he said.
The motion was seconded by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Abba Moro (Benue South).
Senate President Godswill Akpabio subsequently put the motion to a voice vote, which was overwhelmingly supported by a majority of lawmakers.
With the latest amendment, the Senate has effectively acknowledged that its earlier version of the Electoral Act amendment was passed without a provision accommodating electronic transmission of election results.