The Senate Minority Caucus has moved to clarify reports suggesting that the National Assembly rejected the electronic transmission of election results before passing the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, describing the claims as inaccurate and misleading.
The clarification was issued on Thursday, barely a day after the Senate came under intense public criticism following media reports that lawmakers had voted against provisions allowing electronic transmission of results and a proposed 10-year ban for vote buyers and other electoral offenders.
Addressing journalists, former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the caucus felt compelled to clear what he described as a “serious misunderstanding” of the proceedings during Wednesday’s plenary session.
Abaribe explained that the Senate did not remove or reject electronic transmission of election results but rather retained the existing provisions as contained in the 2022 Electoral Act. According to him, the debate centered on avoiding legal conflicts and operational uncertainties that could arise from introducing parallel or contradictory clauses.
“The impression that the Senate voted to reject electronic transmission is not correct,” Abaribe said. “What the Senate did was to ensure consistency with the already existing law, so that there are no ambiguities in interpretation or implementation.”
Akpabio stressed that the upper chamber deliberately maintained electronic transmission provisions already enshrined in the 2022 Electoral Act, rather than re-legislating them in a manner that could create confusion.
