Big surprise land on Wednesday as President Bola Tinubu sign the amended Electoral Act just 24 hours after National Assembly pass am. Opposition parties and civil society groups bin dey beg am make e no rush sign the bill, but the President no wait — e append im signature for State House, Abuja.
Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) warn say the new amendment get dangerous loophole, especially the part wey allow Presiding Officers use Form EC8A for result collation if dem claim say network fail. Dem talk say the law no clearly explain how to confirm whether network truly fail or not, and that kind grey area fit open door for election manipulation ahead of 2027.
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CNPP argue say citizens fit easily check network with their own phones, so if INEC officials claim outage wey people no see, e fit cause serious distrust and even wahala. Dem say Nigeria don make small progress with electronic transmission, and this amendment fit drag the country backward.
Despite protests from CSOs and opposition figures wey storm National Assembly last week demanding compulsory real-time upload of results, Tinubu still sign the bill. Supporters of the hybrid system talk say rural network problem make full electronic transmission hard to implement.
As at now, groups like ActionAid and Yiaga Africa don show concern, while many big opposition politicians never talk since the signing.