Taiwo Popoola
The Controversy Surrounding the Enactments of the Electoral Act and the Perceived ‘Rush’, Hastily signing of the Act coming from President Bola Tinubu has come under intense criticism from civil society
On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu signed into law the 2026 Electoral Act amendment bill, which was passed by the National Assembly on February 18.
A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), including Yiaga Africa, The Kukah Centre Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), International Press Centre (IPC), ElectHer, Nigerian Women Trust Fund and TAF Africa, have expressed disappointment with the outcome of the 2026 Electoral Act, which was recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu.https://urbanexpresslive.com/how-burna-boy-tems-became-african-artistes-with-most-billboard-hot-100-entries/
The CSOs said the content of the new electoral law was not what Nigerians wanted, as demonstrated in their public statements and participation in the entire process, as well as the recent peaceful protests, which were a disappointment to the CSOs, millions of Nigerians and other individuals who participated and worked tirelessly to ensure an electoral law that would herald an improved electoral process.
The coalition highlighted that the new electoral law failed in the areas of real-time electronic transmission of election results, compressed timelines for key electoral activities, restricting the filing of reports to INEC officials to activate the review of election results, a N50 million administrative fee (non-refundable) for new political party registration and mode of party primaries which restrict parties to only two options for candidate nomination, Direct Primaries or Consensus.
At a press conference in Abuja, Jake Epelle, the Chief Executive Officer of TAF Africa, told journalists that the CSOs were deeply concerned by the recent development regarding the 2026 Electoral Law and the outcome of the 2027 elections.
He said: “Wednesday was the darkest day for Nigeria’s democracy. The 2026 Electoral Act is simply a missed opportunity for the transformative electoral reform that Nigeria requires and deserves.
“At a time when public confidence in elections remains fragile, this electoral law should have decisively strengthened transparency, eliminated ambiguities and deepened safeguards against manipulation. Instead, it created more vulnerabilities in the electoral process.
“Throughout the legislative process, we engaged constructively with the National Assembly, submitted detailed citizens’ memoranda, participated in public hearings and engaged publicly and privately for specific amendments that would have strengthened the integrity, inclusiveness and accountability of Nigeria’s electoral framework.
“Sadly, the Electoral Act left dangerous loopholes unaddressed and introduced new barriers to political participation.”
The leader of the CSOs also faulted the President’s speedy assent to the bill without attending to the concerns and reactions of Nigerians. “The decision of the Presidency to grant assent without addressing the substantive legal, technical and democratic concerns raised by civil society, professional bodies and even some members of the National Assembly signals a troubling prioritisation of political expediency over electoral integrity.
“Electoral reform should be guided by broad consultation and consensus, not compressed timelines and executive finality. This sets a dangerous precedent that foundational democratic laws may be enacted despite credible warnings from stakeholders charged with safeguarding electoral transparency.
“Such an approach risks eroding public trust at a time when confidence in the electoral system remains fragile and must be deliberately strengthened, not casually tested,” he suggested.
He insisted that the 2026 Electoral Law contains significant flaws that will undermine electoral integrity, entrench incumbency advantage and exclude millions of Nigerians from meaningful political participation. “Civil society raised each of these issues with evidence-based recommendations during the legislative process. The failure to address them represents a failure of political will.”
The group, however, recognised some innovations in the new Electoral Law, particularly section 1,8 which allows for downloadable voter cards from INEC’s website. “This will increase voter participation and reduce disenfranchisement often associated with missing or unissued voter cards.
“Another one is section 9. For the first time in Nigeria’s electoral history, the voter register is required to be disaggregated by disability type. This is a significant advance in line with Nigeria’s obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).”
He called on INEC to work closely with the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) and disability inclusion organisations to ensure this provision is operationalised with dignity and accuracy.
“There are also sections 62, 71 which prescribe enhanced penalties for result falsification. The section noted that Returning Officers who deliberately falsify results now face a mandatory minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment without the option of a fine.
“Similarly, Presiding Officers who fail to sign result sheets may also face mandatory three-year imprisonment. These are among the strongest anti-fraud sanctions in Nigeria’s legislative history and represent a commitment to accountability that we strongly support,” he noted.
The Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Mr Samson Itodo, in his remarks, queried the speed with which the document was signed by the President despite the sustained concerns raised by Nigerians.
He highlighted that Electoral Law is the architecture of democratic competition, adding that its legitimacy depends not only on its content but on the openness and credibility of the process through which it is enacted.
“When reforms are rushed, consolidated without scrutiny and adopted without full disclosure, public confidence inevitably erodes. This approach does not reflect deliberative lawmaking. It reflects a troubling departure from the transparency and accountability that electoral reform demands.
“In the period between the National Assembly’s passage of the Bill and the granting of Presidential assent, civil society organisations convened multiple protests and public engagements calling for critical safeguards to be preserved, including real-time electronic transmission of results, downloadable voter cards and the retention of established electoral timelines. These were not partisan demands; they were grounded in legal precedent, technical feasibility and the imperative to protect electoral credibility ahead of 2027.
Director of Programmes at Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu, in her contribution, also expressed disappointment at the development, but challenged Nigerians and key stakeholders to “mount a guard” and ensure that no form of malpractice is condoned during the electoral exercise.
Similarly, the spokesman of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, appreciated the CSOs for the sustained push for a more credible and accountable electoral process.
He appealed to Nigerians to accept the new electoral law despite the identified gaps. “Democracy is a work in progress. We may not have all we wanted now, but what we have in the new Electoral Law is an improved version of what we had in 2022.”
Also, reacting, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has equally expressed disappointment and concern over the development.
In a statement by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, James Ezema, the Parties described the presidential assent as a “missed historic opportunity” to address structural loopholes earlier identified by stakeholders in the version of the amendment passed by the House of Representatives of Nigeria and the Senate of Nigeria.
The group said it had previously raised objections to a controversial provision permitting a Presiding Officer at a polling unit to rely on Form EC8A as the primary source for result collation where electronic transmission of results is deemed impossible due to network failure.
According to the CNPP, its concern was not about acknowledging technological limitations in remote areas, but about what it described as the absence of a transparent and independently verifiable framework for determining genuine network failure.
“By leaving the determination of network failure substantially at the discretion of individual polling unit officials, the newly signed law creates an exploitable loophole capable of undermining the integrity of the electoral process,” the statement read.
However, for the African Democratic Congress, ADC, President Tinubu’s hasty assent to the new electoral law is tantamount to signing a death warrant against credible polls in the country.
The party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, stated that the haste with which the President assented to the electoral law, was part of the All Progressives Congress (APC) plot to allegedly rig the 2027 general election.
President Tinubu, on Wednesday, signed the new electoral law, 24 hours after it was passed by the National Assembly, amid protests over some sections of the new legislation.
The civil society, as well as key opposition figures, had protested the non-inclusion of mandatory electronic transmission of election results in the new electoral law.
The ADC said it is sad that at a time when Nigerians across party lines were demanding more accountability in the electoral system, the President hurriedly signed the new electoral law, which failed to improve citizens’ confidence in the electoral process.”
The opposition party said: “With the alarmingly speedy assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, President Bola Tinubu has signed the death warrant on credible elections, and by so doing, set Nigeria’s democracy back by several decades.
“In signing the bill into law, the President claimed to be consolidating the country’s democracy, but in reality, he has simply corrupted it further by introducing ambiguity and permitting excessive discretion in the collation and transmission process.”
Furthermore, the ADC noted that, “by refusing to slow down, listen and meaningfully engage the concerns of Nigerians, President Tinubu and the APC-led National Assembly have shown that they are afraid of what the Nigerian people will do to them in a free and fair election, and they have reacted by demonstrating outright disregard for the very citizens whose mandate sustains their democratic authority.
“ADC is also deeply concerned about what this amendment portends for Nigeria’s forthcoming elections. In the absence of firm guarantees of electronic transparency, vigilant citizens may feel compelled to physically safeguard their votes to prevent discrepancies between polling units and collation centres, as has been witnessed in the past.
“No government that is confident in its democratic mandate and cares about its citizens should place its people in a position that risks heightening tension during elections.”
The party declared that with the assent to the new electoral law by President Tinubu, it is prepared and willing to defend the country’s democracy through every constitutional and lawful means at its disposal.
“As a duly constituted political party in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with the actions taken by President Tinubu on Wednesday, February 18, moving forward, the ADC affirms in the strongest and clearest possible terms that we are ready, willing and prepared to defend the sanctity of Nigeria’s democracy using every constitutional and lawful means available to us.
“We will mobilise Nigerians toward vigilance, lawful participation and unity in defence of their constitutional rights. We stand firm in the belief that the will of the people must prevail and that no law, however hastily enacted, can extinguish the democratic aspirations of a free nation,” the opposition party stated.
But for the Convener of the Northern Stakeholders’ Consultative Initiative, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, Tinubu’s speedy assent was commendable. He described the move as a strong demonstration of democratic commitment, adding that the President’s decision reflected a clear belief in the power of the people as it strengthens participatory democracy in the country.
The new law, according to Shettima, particularly its provisions encouraging direct primaries, marked a departure from what he described as the flawed indirect primary system, where a few influential individuals or ‘godfathers’ often determined outcomes at the expense of the broader party membership.
“In the past, under the so-called indirect primaries, a handful of stakeholders could single-handedly decide who emerged as a candidate.
“That system discouraged credible and competent individuals from contesting because they were not engaging the generality of party members but a few powerful figures who could determine their fate,” he said.
He noted that such practices weakened internal party democracy and, by extension, the nation’s democratic process.
Shettima, however, praised the new framework for removing bottlenecks and creating a more open and inclusive system that allowed aspirants to engage directly with party members.
“Now, anyone who is interested can contest without unnecessary obstacles.
“All that is required is to reach out to the people, present your ideas and convince them of what you can offer. Once they are convinced, they will give you their mandate,” he stated.
He added that candidates who emerge through a people-driven process would be more accountable and responsive to the electorate, having secured their mandate through broad-based support rather than elite endorsement.
