On Monday, the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, and the upper chamber, the Senate, of the national assembly passed the highly controversial 2026 electoral amendment Bill into law. The electoral act before its passage into law sparked protests and public demonstrations in recent weeks, in which high-profile figures and prominent politicians from the opposition parties participated.
Last Wednesday, the Senate, during deliberation and review of the electoral amendment Bill, rejected a critical provision: the electronic transmission of results in real-time from the polling booth. The decision of the Senate to reject electronic transmission of results did not come as a surprise to many observers, it only validated and reinforced their notion about the lack of real desire on the part of the principal officers of the national assembly to promulgate laws that will enhance the credibility of our perennially flawed and highly controversial elections.
While members of the Senate and the House of Representatives make so much song and dance about passing laws that will strengthen our electoral process and deepen our democracy, they have paid lip service to important aspects of what is gradually becoming superficial electoral reforms and fall short when it matters most. The most unsettling aspect of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill saga is now the volte face done by the House of Representatives after it previously agreed on and passed mandatory electronic transmission of results in real time. This vicious deviousness has now shattered the hope and removed the illusion of those who still believe the current crop of politicians, especially those in the ruling party, have their interests at heart.
After the public outrage that greeted the Senate’s refusal to accept pass real time transmission of results into law and instead altered clause 60(3) to add conditionalities that create loopholes and wriggle room for those who want to make manipulated elections and subvert the people’s will. Seeing that the mounting public pressure and calls for the Senate to align its position on transmission of results with that of the House of Representatives, who, before yesterday had agreed on real-time electronic transmission of results, are not abating, a joint conference committee was reportedly set up.
The committee, which was set up to address and reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions of the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill, 2026, was scheduled to meet on February 16. The main agenda of the meeting was the key and single most critical provision, Clause 60(3), which pertains to the electronic transmission of election results. The meeting which was supposed to be held at the national assembly complex did not take place. According to reports, key members of the House of Representatives conveniently did not show up. No attendance. No deliberation. No debates, no progress report. Attempts to reconvene also failed.
Then suddenly, reports filtered through that a late-night, closed-door meeting was hurriedly convened outside the National Assembly complex at the Senate President’s Lodge in Maitama, Abuja. A nocturnal meeting at the private residence of the number three citizen after the official session had already collapsed. All in a rush to “align positions” before plenary. Even if there were doubts and misgivings about what transpired at the secret off-site meeting on Monday, such doubts and misgivings were cleared by what unfolded at the plenary of the House of Representatives yesterday. It did not come as a surprise to many after the principal officers of the house of representatives, who had already accepted and passed mandatory electronic transmission of results suddenly backtracked and adopted the position of the Senate, which gave the option of manual transfer.
As was the case in the Senate last week, the opposition member of the lower chamber vehemently opposed the reversal of their consensus on the transmission of results and adoption of the Senate decision as they electoral act amendment Bill becomes law. It is worth mentioning that only the members of the opposition parties supported mandatory transmission of election results while the All Progressives Congress, the ruling party which is also the party with the majority in both federal legislative chambers, feisty and ferociously opposed it. The opposition tried to make their voice count yesterday and at least do something worth remembering, but the jarring machinations and impunity of the ruling party got the better of them.
The hysteria and furore that characterised the electoral amendment Bill and the accompanying unsettling antics and machinations of the APC have left many people wondering if there is anything progressive about the party. The party has either worked to frustrate, sabotage or outrightly block any law and policy that will fuel and hasten the growth and development of Nigeria and positively impact the lives, and those that will strengthen our democracy by enhancing the transparency and credibility of our electoral process. From governance to politics, one can see the seeming absence of progressive ideals in their actions and key decision-making processes.
From President Bola Tinubu’s deeply unpopular and devastating economic policies like the removal of subsidy on petrol and floating of the naira to the wastefulness, profligacy, corruption, patronage and rent-seeking that characterise his government, the very doctrine of the party, the creed and disposition of its high-ranking members are antithetical to what being a progressive truly is all about. And when you include the forgery scandal that dogged the tax bill and the way the party has handled electoral act amendment Bill and the path it has decided to toe on the matter, the only conclusion one is compelled to reach is that how the party operates and the behaviour of its members negate and run counter to principles of progressivism which is rooted in public good and prioritising changes and reforms that improves the lives of the people and society at large.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, Progressivism is a political philosophy and social reform ideals focused on advancing the public good through government action and often calling for government to be used to meet popular social, political, economic, and environmental needs and demands and to advance rights and protections for marginalised groups: the principles, beliefs, or practices of political Progressives.
When the government persistently places premium on the politics and power rather than visionary leadership and purposeful governance that elevate the people and build the nation, when the government perennially prioritises the interest of corrupt political class, when it ignores the demands of the people, scoffs at their agitations, belittle their reservations, discounts their concerns and meets their protests for better legislations that protect our democracy with violence and brute force by those who claim to be of the progressive stock, the people become disillusioned with democracy, resentment builds and the illusion of progressivism dies.