President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday formally endorsed the Electoral Act 2026 Amendment Bill, barely a few days after the Independent National Electoral Commission unveiled its official schedule for the 2027 nationwide polls.
The ceremony unfolded inside the Presidential Villa in Abuja shortly after 5 pm, attended by key leaders from both chambers of the National Assembly.
Lawmakers had given final approval to the legislation only the previous day, Tuesday.
The latest changes have once again ignited intense discussions surrounding the digital sending of poll outcomes.
Advocacy organisations along with certain voices from the opposition have persistently called for instantaneous transfer of voting figures directly from polling stations to the commission’s main database, insisting the move would minimise tampering and boost public trust in the process.
Just last week, demonstrators forced their way into the National Assembly grounds to press for immediate live streaming of results, pointing to major breakdowns experienced in the 2023 polls when the commission’s dedicated Results Viewing Portal malfunctioned and triggered broad claims of electoral fraud.
Although the governing All Progressives Congress backs wider use of modern technology in voting exercises, various interested parties maintain that regions suffering from unreliable network coverage need a gradual or mixed system, permitting traditional paper-based counting whenever digital tools break down.
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