A few days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the Electoral Act 2026, chieftains of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) have rejected the new law.
At a press briefing held at Trancorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, they dismissed the Act as obnoxious, meant to undermine Nigeria’s democracy.
They also claimed that it was “part of the ongoing design by the Tinubu-led APC to disorganise and weaken opposition, corrupt the electoral system, compromise democratic institutions and foist a totalitarian one-party rule on Nigeria. “
In attendance at the world press conference were NNPP National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed; Senator David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola, national chairman and national secretary of the ADC; former Vice president Atiku Abubakar and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Presidential candidate of the Labour Party and presidential aspirant in ADC, Peter Obi and National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.
Also in attendance were former ADC National Chairman Ralph Nwosu and former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke, among several others.
In the prepared speech read by NNPP National Chairman, Ajuji Ahmed, titled, ‘Urgent Call to Save Nigeria’s Democracy’, the opposition parties specifically faulted Section 60(3), which allows the Presiding Officers to rely on the Form EC8A as alternative means of results collation in the event of network failure which impedes transmission through the INEC Result Viewing Portal, ( IReV).
The opposition parties’ chieftains also picked holes in the new Ac,t which foreclosed indirect primaries for the selection of candidates, thereby restricting political parties to direct and consensus arrangements for selecting candidates.
Checks revealed that most political parties make provisions for direct, indirect and consensus arrangements in their constitutions.
The opposition parties argued that the proviso in the Act, which foreclosed mandatory electronic transmission of results, is a blank cheque to manipulate the results of the 2027 elections.
The NNPP Chairman, who recalled earlier assurances by the immediate past national chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu and a former National Commissioner of the Commission, Festus Okoye, on the availability of internet access to polling units, faulted the fears raised by both chambers of parliament on the possibility of network failure.
He said, “The introduction of the proviso in Section 60(3), which allows wide and undefined discretionary powers to the presiding officer, overrides and negates the purpose of introducing electronic transmission of election results from polling units.
“This negation is unambiguously intended to provide a blank check to those who seek to manipulate election results by delaying the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV on the pretext of network failure.
“The premise of the provision in Section 60(3) is the unavailability or possibility of network failure. We find this premise dubious and inconsistent with reality.
“The immediate past INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, stated on record that the BVAS equipment, which operates offline, had worked with over 90% success rate across the nation, and in the event of network failure at the point of transmission, the transmitted results would be delivered successfully whenever the network is available.
This position has been further confirmed most recently by the former INEC Commissioner, Festus Okoye, as widely reported, that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access. Indeed, these statements by those who have been in a position to know provide counterfactual evidence to the lies that are being fed to the Nigerian people by a government that has lost respect for reason and reality.
“The testimonies of these two principal officers of INEC have also been strongly supported by publicly available data. According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, as of 2023, Nigeria had achieved more than 95% 2G coverage, which is more than sufficient for the transmission of election results from polling units. And by that same period, Nigeria already had more than 159 million internet subscribers, and more than 220 million telephone subscribers using a 2G network.
“It is also noteworthy that this capacity for 24-hour coverage of the entire country goes to show that denying mandatory real-time transmission of election results from the polling units on the basis of a lack of communication network is not supported by evidence.
“Fortunately, millions of our people who transact business daily with various financial platforms, even from the remotest parts of the country, know that the no-network argument is fraudulent and is merely part of the APC game plan to rig the election in 2027.
“Indeed, we find it quite ironic that the same APC that strongly agitated for electronic voting only a few years ago is now opposed to the use of technology for mere transmission of results. The game at hand is very clear.”
On the adoption of direct and consensus arrangement for selection of candidates, the ADC and NNPP claimed that the indirect primaries were the most transparent and orderly manner for selecting candidates.
“They accused the Parliament of hijacking the right of political parties to the selection of candidates.
Furthermore, the amendment to Section 84 of the Act, limiting political parties to direct primaries and consensus for the purpose of selection of candidates, is clearly an overreach on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of political parties in the exercise of their internal affairs.
“The National Assembly cannot hide under the provision of Section 228(b) of the Constitution to restrict political parties to only two methods of nomination. There is nothing undemocratic about indirect primaries, which create an electoral college for the selection of candidates in an objective, transparent and orderly manner.
“As a matter of fact, recent experience has shown that indirect primaries have been the most democratic of the trio provided in all the past Electoral Acts.
“We recall many situations where, during direct primaries, the winning candidates were allocated votes that eventually exceeded the total number of votes cast in the subsequent general elections, clearly showing the unreliability of direct primaries. We have also witnessed situations of forced consensus, like the recent case of Osun APC Governorship primaries.
“Our position, therefore, is that as political parties we do not need legislation that prescribes what mode of party primaries political parties must adopt. In other words, the mode of nominating candidates should be strictly the internal affairs of political parties.
“There can only be one reason for this particular amendment: to create chaos and disorder in the ranks of opposition political parties in the hope that they would not be able to present a candidate, and President Tinubu would be the only serious candidate in the 2027 Presidential election.
“What they are working towards is the coronation of Tinubu in 2027. Therefore, we find this amendment in bad faith and we reject it outright. In the coming days, we shall explore every constitutional means to cure this indirect hijack of the independence of political parties.”
The opposition parties further demanded ” that the National Assembly immediately commence a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for a free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians.”
In a critique of the judiciary, the opposition parties’ leaders called for restraint, urging justices to insulate themselves from political actors.
“The final arbiter in any democracy is the judiciary. It is therefore impossible to have a real democracy without an independent and impartial judiciary.
“Unfortunately, we have witnessed in recent years how the very institution that is meant to protect democracy has been weaponised against democracy itself.
“We therefore wish to remind the judiciary that partisan politics is for the executive and the legislature, not the judiciary. The judiciary must stop being complicit in undermining our democracy.
“What we have witnessed in recent times represents strong evidence that our judiciary is in dire need of reform and the temple of justice is in need of deep cleansing. A situation where elections are blatantly rigged, and those who participated such criminality are quick to say “if you are not happy, go to court”, has done immeasurable damage to our democratic progress and it must be stopped.
“Electoral outcomes must be decided by the people, and not the courts. The judiciary must therefore rediscover its capacity for impartiality and neutrality and regain the intrinsic trust of citizens in its judgments.”
