.Cites loopholes in new electoral law.
By MBACHU GODWIN, Abuja
Leaders of the opposition political parties in Nigeria have rejected the new Electoral Act that was signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu describing the law as anti democratic.
The opposition parties urged the National Assembly to commence fresh amendment to take care of the loopholes in the electoral law.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja , National Chairman of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Mr. Ajuji Ahmed who read the statement said the electoral law that was hurriedly assented to law by President Tinubu is fraudulent and unacceptable by the opposition.
“We gather here as leaders of Nigeria’s major opposition political parties with a shared aspiration to save our democracy and indeed our nation from impending failure and collapse.
“We have met and decided to collectively articulate our position against the offensive and anti-democratic Electoral Act, 2026 recently passed by the All Progressives Congress, APC-led National Assembly and hurriedly assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as other related matters that equally portends danger to our democracy.
“We consider several provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 signed into law with such contemptuous haste by President Tinubu as a major offensive by the APC administration to subvert the will of the people in the 2027 general elections. This joint briefing and other collaborative efforts that would follow are therefore designed by the opposition parties to save our democracy, and more importantly, to save our country from political crisis that may follow if the will of the people are subverted yet again.
“We, therefore, state unequivocally that the new Electoral Act is anti-democratic, and its implementation will undermine electoral transparency and sanctity of the ballot which are fundamental to free, fair and credible elections and the bedrock of participatory democracy.
“This obnoxious Electoral Act, 2026 is without doubt enacted to undermine democracy in Nigeria and it is part of the on-going 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. Therefore, we, as patriotic leaders, standing shoulder to shoulder with Nigerians, reject the new Electoral Act for the following reasons.
“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 proviso 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 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 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 at 2023 Nigeria had achieved more than 95% 2G coverage, which is more than sufficient for 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 2G network. It is also noteworthy that Thise 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 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”.
“As true believers in the tenets of electoral democracy and leaders of the main opposition parties in Nigeria, we alert that our country is being pushed to the precipice by the very institutions that are vested with the constitutional powers to uphold and defend our democracy. Already we are confronted with a citizenry that is increasingly cynical of our democracy and what it promises. The trust deficit widens exponentially on a daily basis. Citizen disengagement, voter apathy, the erosion of rule of law, and the desecration of our institutions have become emblematic of our democracy. Majority of our people are losing faith in democracy. This is a very dangerous trend that we can only arrest by truly handing power back to the people.
“The National Assembly failed in its duty to act in the interest of the country and citizens. This 10th assembly acted solely in their narrow and selfish interests. The National Assembly rejected the opportunity to deepen and strengthen our democratic process when it was presented to them by the people. They rejected the chance to act as true patriots when history beckoned; they chose to tear down rather than build a truly democratic society. History will remember them for this.
“It is obvious that the objective of the APC government and their accomplices in the legislature is to provide the legal pretext for the corruption of the electoral system. They harbour neither plans nor intentions to conduct free and fair elections in 2027, because even in their arrogance and self-delusion, they are acutely aware of their growing unpopularity across the length and breadth of Nigeria even with the recent gale of coerced and procured defections to their party.
We demand 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 free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians.
“We hereby wish to assure Nigerians that the opposition stand in unity and shall meet the ongoing shenanigans with equal resolve. We urge the people not to be deterred or be discouraged. We are committed to defending our democracy and we are prepared to defend your votes and ensure that every vote counts. We hear you loud and clear. We know your desire for a government that cares for you, a government that listens to you, and a government that protects you. We will not let you down.
“We call on all lovers of democracy to join us in this journey to save the world’s largest black democracy from this growing civilian dictatorship of President Bola Tinubu. We call on the civil society groups to join us in the task of saving our democracy and our beloved nation. This is the time to stand up and be counted”.
