Former Director of Voter and Publicity Education at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, has alleged that the Senate is intentionally stalling the passage of a new Electoral Act, warning that such delays could have serious implications for Nigeria’s electoral process.
Osaze-Uzzi made the claim on Tuesday, the 27th of January, 2026, during an interview on Arise Television, where he responded to questions on recent legislative developments surrounding electoral reforms.
According to him, the continued delay by the upper chamber may force the country to rely once again on the Electoral Act of 2022, which he described as deeply flawed.
“Evidence shows the Senate is deliberately delaying the passage of the Electoral Act. I think the circumstantial evidence seems to be that it’s a deliberate ploy.
“When you see all these things happening, how they unfold, what was their reason? For the same reason that yesterday made reference to it, that will be part of the legislative agenda, and the top was priority.
“But what is disturbing to people like us who observe these matters is that, look, there are two or three major things. I think the agricultural thing is there. It was talking of the budget, still as we considered.
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“But don’t forget that a lot of commentators, a lot of lawyers, a lot of civil society people, media have said that Nigerians saw the flaws in Electoral Act of 2022.
We saw the issues. “Even the National Assembly recalled that when it passed the Act, then they now found that they expected certain statutory delegates who ought to be delegates at national conventions, and they try to send him back to then President, late Muhammadu Buhari for an amendment. We are so close to elections. We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.
Osaze-Uzzi stressed that revisiting unresolved issues so close to election timelines undermines confidence in the electoral framework and raises concerns about the preparedness of institutions responsible for safeguarding democratic processes.