Ex-INEC REC faults Senate on electronic transmission of election, lists dangers

On Tuesday, the Senate rescinded its earlier decision on the Electoral Act amendment in which it had rejected the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV) after vote counting.

A former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, has warned that the recent Senate’s decision to back off on mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results was dangerous.

Mr Igini, a lawyer, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday in response to the debate about the Senate’s re-amendment of the Electoral Act 2022.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that on Tuesday, the Senate rescinded its earlier decision on the Electoral Act amendment in which it had rejected the mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV) after vote counting.

The senators consequently re-amended the Electoral Act to accommodate the electronic transmission of results.

Some Nigerians have faulted the amendment because it does not make electronic transmission mandatory, but comes with a caveat that, in the event of internet failure, Form EC8A will serve as the primary means of result collation.

‘Heed the salutary lessons from the misfortunes,’

In the Sunday statement, Mr Igini warned that the caveat introduced in the Act to allow manual transmission of election results would open the door for election riggers to manipulate poll outcomes in the country.

“Such lacunae were exploited to subvert polling-unit outcomes during their tenure by those who denied them re-election party tickets, rendering them victims of the very defects they declined to remedy or introduce to the Act,” he said.

Below is the text of the statement.

PRESS STATEMENT

PROVISO TO REAL-TIME E- TRANSMISSION OF POLLING UNIT RESULTS: WHY A MAJORITY OF LEGISLATORS MAY NOT RETURN IN 2027

1. As the National Assembly convenes to reconcile the divergent versions of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill—particularly about the unequivocal demand by the Nigerian populace for mandatory electronic transmission of election results directly from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), I urge Honourable and Distinguished Senators to heed the salutary lessons from the misfortunes that befell their predecessors.

2. Those earlier Assemblies, for reasons of convenience and party loyalty, refused to address well-documented election rigging vulnerabilities in our electoral laws, like the very proviso now introduced by the Senate, to qualify direct electronic transmission. Such lacunae were exploited to subvert polling-unit outcomes during their tenure by those who denied them re-election party tickets, rendering them victims of the very defects they declined to remedy or introduce to the Act.

3. I present here to members of National Assembly as they prepare for sitting and members of the public, empirical evidence from preceding electoral cycles (2007–2023) which demonstrates that, a majority of incumbent legislators who were denied re- nomination tickets by party governors and principal officers of their parties, even when they secured alternative platforms thereafter, were ultimately defeated through manipulation of polling units results during collation processes, despite robust grassroots support they legitimately obtained in their constituencies and won at polling units.

4. The 10th Assembly now stands perilously close to replicating this lamentable pattern. Those Members not favoured or not in the good books of their respective State Governors or party leaders will foreseeably be denied tickets and, given the prospects of an unprotected or unsecured E-transmission of polling unit results, will find it exceedingly difficult to translate constituency endorsement, however strong they may be, into electoral victory.

5. Nigerians have insistently demanded real-time electronic transmission from polling units to IReV, precisely to forestall post-polling alterations at ward or local government collation centres. Publicly viewable results serve as a deterrence and would render such tampering manifest and actionable.

6. Nigerians and indeed incumbent legislators, particularly those who have demonstrated competence, independence and legislative proficiency, deserving of re-election, require this safeguard more acutely than any other cohort for legislative institutional capacity building.

The statistical table of analyses attached to this press statement on legislative turnover reveals a persistently alarming attrition rate across both chambers of the National Assembly, underscoring the systemic vulnerability of legislators to a manipulable electoral process because deliberate loopholes are created in the laws, as evidenced by past failures to do the right thing. This is an institutional self-harm that will undermine national democratic consolidation.

7. In the Senate, the Sixth Senate (2007-2011) returned only 23 of 109 members, with 86 newly elected Senators, representing a turnover rate of 79%.

8. The Seventh Senate (2011-2015) recorded 36 re-elections and 73 new entrants (67% turnover).

9. The Eighth Senate (2015–2019) saw 39 returning Senators and 70 newcomers (64% turnover).

10. The Ninth Senate (2019–2023) marginally improved with 45 re-elected and 64 newly elected members, yielding a 59% turnover rate.

11. Alarmingly, the current Tenth Senate (2023–2027) has regressed sharply, with only 25 returning Senators and 84 new entrants—translating to a staggering 77% turnover.

12. A similarly destabilising pattern persists in the House of Representatives. In the Sixth House (2007–2011), merely 80 of 360 members were re-elected, while 280 were newcomers (78% turnover). The Seventh House (2011–2015) recorded 100 re-elected members against 260 newly elected (72% turnover). The Eighth House (2015–2019) saw 110 returnees and 250 new legislators (69.4% turnover). The Ninth House (2019–2023) marked the lowest attrition in this period, with 151 re-elected and 209 newly elected members (57% turnover). However, the present Tenth House (2023–2027) has again deteriorated, returning only 109 members while ushering in 251 new legislators, producing a 70% turnover rate.

13. Across these electoral cycles, Nigerians and legislators have been the major victims and casualties of the type of proviso on E-transmission that has just been introduced, which has led to the huge turnover in both chambers. Their attrition rate has averaged well above 60 -70%, with fewer than four in ten Senators and barely one-third of Representatives typically securing re-election.

14. This chronic instability breeds institutional amnesia, dissipates scarce public resources on perpetual induction and retraining, weakens legislative oversight, and erodes continuity in law-making and executive accountability.

The vulnerability stems fundamentally from manipulable polling unit results during collation processes, where credible polling unit results evidence cannot be adduced to substantiate constituency support. Legislators, despite strong local backing, are reduced to supplicants rather than autonomous stakeholders, beholden to executive whims at the federal and state levels.

15. Real-time electronic transmission is , therefore, not merely desirable; it is essential for the sustenance of our democracy and for the re-election of deserving legislators’ political survival.

16. Where party nomination ticket is denied because Governors determine who gets tickets, though there is no such law, aspirants could move to alternative platforms, and success will depend upon unassailable polling-unit results transmitted to IReV in real-time to vindicate their mandates. The BVAS device is engineered for both online and offline functionality: results entered at polling units are queued and automatically uploaded upon network restoration. The Senate’s proviso invites mischief, affording opportunities for collusion among influential actors, collation officials, and telecommunications providers to engineer deliberate network failures on election day.

17. For the record, way back in 2012 in Cross River State, as the Commissioner in charge of the state, the Commission under Professor Jega, carried out a successful real-time E-transmission pilot in the conduct of the second term election of Governor Liyel lmoke viewed on a dashboard in my office as collated result from the 18 LGAs were transmitted and updated across the state successfully. The problem has always been that of statute capture and statute sabotage coupled with strange and questionable refusal of the Courts to give effect to the laws, this lapse by custodians of the Law, has encouraged election manipulation.

18. Before we left office in 2022, INEC and NCC had surveyed network coverage of both 2G and 3 G and came up with a report of over 97% coverage across Nigeria. That was what the commission used to carry out E-transmission of polling units’ results to IREV successfully in real-time in over 105 off-cycle elections, including five Governorship elections before the 2023 elections. Network concerns are, therefore, largely excuses and completely specious.

19. Above all, under the 1999 Constitution, INEC’s regulatory authority in section 160 to make its own rules and regulate its precedure in discharging its duties is unimpeachable, in addition to its power under section 148 of the Act to issue binding Regulations and Guidelines. The refusal of the Court to give effect to it, is simply unbelievable. The first alteration was introduced by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to enhance the lndependence as an umpire executive body unlike others created under section 153 of the constitution.

20. I, therefore, implore the National Assembly to remove/excise the proviso and restore the original, unequivocal provision for direct, real-time electronic transmission as previously passed. I equally call upon the judiciary, my constituency not to make itself the weakest link in the line of defence of our democracy and the rule of law.

The facts of alarming rate of Legislators turnover are incontrovertible. The imperatives are clear. Let wisdom prevail over expediency, convenience and party loyalty lest history repeat its tragic verdict upon yet another Assembly.

May God give us the courage to do what is right for the good of our country.

Signed

Barr. Mike Igini

Former INEC Electoral Commissioner