Thursday February 19, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng
President Bola Tinubu has signed into law the Electoral Act Amendment) 2026, saying in Nigeria, electronic transmission of election results is merely supportive and not a replacement for manual transmission.
This came on a day former Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr. Mike Igini, blamed the Judiciary for recurring challenges in the electoral system.
He also faulted the National Assembly’s decision to retain manual collation as a backup to electronic transmission of election results in the amended Electoral Act.
Signing of the amended Act came days after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, released the time-table for the 2027 general elections.
The signing ceremony took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, around 5:00pm, with principal officers of the National Assembly in attendance.
Recall that the National Assembly had on Tuesday, passed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) Bill into law.
The amendment came amid intense public debate over electronic transmission of election results in real-time.
Last week, protests rocked the National Assembly complex as civil society organisations and some opposition figures mounted sustained pressure on the National Assembly to mandate live transmission of results from polling units directly to INEC’s central server.
They argued that it will reduce result manipulation and enhance credibility of the electoral process.