President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday defended his decision to sign the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law, stating that the credibility of elections depends more on proper management and human oversight than on real-time electronic transmission of results.
The President spoke shortly after assenting to the amendment at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, amid sustained debate over whether election results should be transmitted live from polling units to the central server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“It’s not as important as the history aspects of this. What is crucial is the fact that you manage the process to the extent there will be no confusion, no disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and that we are all going to see democracy flourish,” Tinubu said.
He stressed that regardless of the technological systems adopted, elections are ultimately managed and concluded by people. “No matter how good the system is, it’s managed by the people, promoted by the people, and the result is finalised by the people,” he added.
Addressing the controversy surrounding electronic transmission, the President maintained that final results would be announced by designated electoral officials, not computers. He also raised concerns about Nigeria’s broadband capacity to sustain seamless real-time uploads across the country.
“In fact, for final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the final results,” he said, urging Nigerians to consider the country’s technical preparedness.
Tinubu reiterated that the voting process remains fundamentally manual, from ballot issuance to counting. According to him, electronic transmission applies only to the arithmetic record captured in Form EC8A after manual collation at polling units.
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“It’s just the arithmetic accuracy that is to enter into Form EC8A. The transmission of that manual result is what we’re looking at. And we need to avoid glitches, interference, and unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness,” he stated.
The amendment to the Electoral Act had generated intense public and legislative debate in recent weeks. The House of Representatives initially passed a version mandating real-time electronic transmission of results. However, the Senate retained electronic transmission provisions but stopped short of making real-time uploads mandatory, allowing manual collation as a fallback where technology fails.
The Senate’s decision drew criticism from opposition parties, civil society organisations and reform advocates, who argued that the provision could create room for manipulation and ambiguity. It also triggered protests and walkouts within the National Assembly during deliberations on Clause 60(3) of the Act.
Under the final version approved before assent, results are to be electronically transmitted after Form EC8A is signed and stamped at polling units. However, where electronic transmission fails due to network challenges, the manually signed result form will serve as the basis for collation and declaration.