'Wetin Senate do no be Electoral reforms, na betrayal of public trust' – Yiaga react to di electoral amendment

Di Nigerian Senate don reject part of di Electoral Act 2022 Amendment Bill wey for give presiding officers chance to electronically transmit election results from polling units direct to di portal, but di Senate president say no be so.

Dis dey come on same day wey di senate pass di Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Reenactment) Amendment Bill 2026 of di Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) we go through third reading.

According to di proposed amendment to Clause 60, subsection 3 of di Amendment bill, dat part suppose make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, but di senate reject and also pass oda electoral reforms.

Di senate gada on Wednesday 4 February to take decision on different clause for di Electoral Amendment Bill.

Meanwhile, Inec chairman Joash Amupitan bin dey concern say di amendment of di Electoral Act get plenti delays, as e call on civil societies to make di National Assembly to quickly take action of di bill.

Although Inec give dia word say dem don ready for di 2027 General election and dem go release di timetable and schedule of activities but e go dey in full compliance wit di Constitution and di Electoral Act, 2022.

Di rejection of di electronic transmission of di election results go make presiding officers no fit send results in realtime from polling units.

According to local media ChannelsTV, instead of di electronic transmission of results, di senate adopt di existing provision of di Electoral Act.

Dat part say "di presiding officer go transfer di results, including di total number of accredited voters and di results of di ballot, for manner wey dey prescribed by di Commission."

Meanwhile, di lawmakers also amend Clause 28 on di notice of election wia dem reduce di timeline from 360 days to 180 days.

According to di original provision, di commission suppose publish notice of election for each state of di federation and di FCT not later than 360 days bifor di election date. But now, dem reduce am to 180 days.

Di senate also reject electronically generated voter identification as dem adopt di Permanent Voter Card as di mode of identification for polling units.

Different reactions don begin show ontop di senate rejection of di electronic result transmission.

Di oga of Yiaga, a civil society organisation wey dey look into election matter, Samson Itodo, say wetin di senate pass 'no be reforms.'

"Today, di Nigerian Senate reject electronic transmission of results, block di download of electronic voter cards from INEC website, reduce notice of election from 360 days to 180 days, cut down timeline for publishing list of candidates from 150 days to 60 days."

For im Facebook post, Itodo say di rejection na betrayal of public trust and e go increase logistics problem during elections.

"Dis compressed timelines go increase di risk of logistics problems during elections. Wetin di Senate pass today no be reform, na betrayal of public trust and deliberate attempt to weaken all di guard for credible elections."

Meanwhile, senate President, Godswill Akpabio say wetin dem do no be rejection of di electronic transmission of results but dem retain wetin dey di previous provision of di Electoral Act amendment bill.

Oga Akpabio deny say dem reject electronic transmission of results say im administration no go do dat kain tin.

"We don retained wetin dey di previous provision by way of amendment. Di previous previous don make allowance for electronic transmission, so e still dey part of our law and we no fit afford to dey go backwards," e tok.