The member representing Ekiti North I Federal Constituency, Akin Rotimi, has said the Senate’s amendment of the Electoral Act was carried out in the best interest of Nigerians.
Rotimi made this known during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, stating that the Senate had fulfilled its representative duty through due parliamentary process.
“The Senate has acted in the best interest of Nigerians. It is part of the legislative process. Remember that all the review, amendment, and feedback from civil society that resulted in the recommendation happened at the committee level. That is part of the parliamentary process,” he said.
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He explained that returning to plenary to deliberate on the committee’s recommendations was also part of constitutional procedure.
“For them to come back to plenary and say this is what we have worked on — it is part of the process as well for everyone to be able to vent and say we like this provision or have reservations about this provision. Let’s look at this a little more closely. That is part of the process which the Senate is constitutionally mandated to carry out,” he added.
Speaking further on the amendment, Rotimi said it was not unusual for the Senate to collectively review provisions during legislative proceedings.
“It is not an issue for the Senate, as part of the parliamentary process, to say let’s take a closer look. There is nothing that has been done outside of our standing rules — the Senate standing rules and the parliamentary procedure,” he said.
According to the lawmaker, the outcome of Tuesday’s proceedings reflected the demands of many senators, which he said aligned with what Nigerians want — free, fair, and credible elections.
“What the Senate is demanding is also a reflection of what Nigerians want, which is free, fair, and credible elections. That is why you saw the outcome of the process yesterday also showed that the Senate shifted grounds,” he stated.
E-Transmission Controversy
The Senate has amended the Electoral Act to permit the electronic transmission of election results, while including safeguards to address potential technical challenges.
The decision followed the upper chamber’s move on Tuesday to rescind its earlier position, which had rejected the compulsory electronic transmission of results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
Under the new amendment, the Senate approved electronic transmission — without the phrase “real time” — as part of the electoral process. However, it stipulated that where internet connectivity fails, Form EC8A will remain the primary instrument for result collation.
In the event of technical challenges such as network failures, the provision allows for a fallback option permitting the manual transmission of results using Form EC8A, duly signed and stamped by the presiding officer.
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