By joshua 
Electoral Acts: Real-Time Transmission May Endangers Rural Voting — CSO
…We only remove ‘real- time ‘from the provision —Akpabio
…Says Rural voters risk exclusion
…Technology may override democracy
…Unstable power supply could collapse elections mid-process
There has been an outrage after the Senate last week passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Reenactment) Amendment Bill 2026 through the third reading.
In passing the bill, the upper chamber, however, did not approve the proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
The rejected provision would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, after the prescribed Form EC&A had been signed and stamped by the presiding officer and countersigned by candidates.
Instead, the Senate adopted the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
Speaking at a book launch on the burden of legislators in Nigeria,the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has clarified that the Senate did not reject the electronic transmission of election results but merely retained the provision as contained in the 2022 Electoral Act.
He explained that electronic transmission of results remains permissible, but the phrase “real time” was removed from the provision.
Akpabio said, “All we said during discussion was that we should remove the word ‘real-time’ because if you say real-time, then there is a network or grid failure and the network is not working. When you go to court, somebody will say it ought to have been real-time. That was all we said.
Reacting to the development in statement yesterday,Civil society organizlsations,Nigeria Integrity Watch (NIW), has warned that plans to make real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory could disenfranchise millions of Nigerians in rural and insecure areas.
The spokesperson, Dr. John Samuel Nang, describing the proposal as a looming “democratic emergency” given Nigeria’s weak digital infrastructure.
NIW said large parts of rural Nigeria, especially communities affected by insecurity, lack reliable telecommunications, stressing that a digital-only system would effectively cancel votes where there is no 4G or 5G coverage.
“Even making ordinary phone calls has become difficult due to network failures,” Dan-musa said, questioning how sensitive election results could be transmitted seamlessly in real time under such conditions.
The assembly also cited the instability of the national grid, warning that frequent power outages could jeopardise elections if electronic transmission becomes compulsory.
Raising sovereignty concerns, the group noted that Nigeria does not have full control over its satellite infrastructure, arguing that reliance on external digital systems could expose the electoral process to manipulation.
NIW recalled that the Supreme Court had recognised electronic transmission as supplementary, not a replacement for manual collation, which it said remains the primary safeguard of the ballot.
The group urged civil society organisations to prioritise infrastructure readiness, calling on the Nigerian Communications Commission and telecom operators to ensure nationwide internet coverage before pushing for mandatory real-time transmission of results.