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Civil society leaders, electoral experts, and INEC’s top brass gathered on Sunday evening for the Citizens’ Townhall on the freshly signed Electoral Act 2026.

Organised by the Civil Society Network on Electoral Integrity (including YIAGA Africa and TAF Africa), the event dissected the law’s reforms, mandatory electronic result transmission via IReV/BVAS, hybrid manual backups, revised party primaries, and earlier funding release, and their real impact on voters ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The evening poster captures the urgency: “Electoral Act 2026: What it means for your vote and the 2027 Elections.”

INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan delivered the headline assurance, vowing that 2027 will be Nigeria’s “best election yet” thanks to reforms, heightened voter awareness since 2023, and planned mock presidential exercises to iron out any transmission glitches.

He stressed simpler laws for transparency and pledged no repeat of past “technical failures.”

Samson Itodo, Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, took a critical stance, labelling the manual transmission fallback proviso a dangerous loophole that could erode trust.

He urged the National Assembly to swiftly amend the Act again to prioritise full electronic transmission, warning that citizens risk losing faith without it.

Other voices included former INEC officials optimistic about BVAS recognition and electronic mandates, political party reps (APC, Labour Party, ADC) debating party perspectives, and activists like Oby Ezekwesili pushing for citizen empowerment.

Panellists highlighted remaining gaps but celebrated progress in funding and timelines.

The national debate over the Electoral Act 2026, recently signed into law, continued on Sunday, with Nigerians expressing divergent views over the new legislation that will serve as a legal guide for the conduct of the 2027 general elections.

The issues identified in the new law took centre stage during a Citizens’ Townhall, an event broadcast live on Channels Television.

READ ALSO: If Tinubu Could Revert National Anthem In 24 Hours, Electoral Act 2026 Can Be Amended – Sam Amadi

The programme, themed “Electoral Act 2026: What it means for your vote and the 2027 elections?”, provided a platform for Nigerians to ask critical questions about the thorny issues in the new Act, including the contentious debate over electronic result transmission.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joash Amupitan, used the forum to address the technical concerns facing the Commission.

Identifying network inadequacy as a primary challenge, he emphasised that the quality of an election is inherently linked to logistical capacity.

“I don’t see the issue of transmission as a problem; the problem is not the network but the adequacy of the networks we have,” he said.

While acknowledging that Nigeria might not achieve “100 per cent perfect elections for now,” Amupitan assured the public that the Commission is striving to deliver the best possible outcome.

He further declared that technical glitches would not derail the 2027 polls.

“The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria,” he added.

To bolster this confidence, he disclosed that INEC would conduct a mock presidential election to stress-test the transmission architecture.

“One of the things we are trying to do before the election is to have a mock presidential election so that we are sure that this transmission across the states must not fail,” Amupitan added.

Yiage Faults NASS

However, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, remained critical of the National Assembly’s decision to make manual transmission an option.

He argued that electronic transmission must be the sole, real-time method for results to ensure credibility.

Itodo further warned that the recently announced compressed election timetable places immense pressure on the Commission.

“And as we approach 2027, the credibility of that election will not just be determined on election day. It will be determined by a few things: the quality of preparations, the transparency of resource management, the professionalism of election officials, how political actors restrain themselves, but more importantly, the independence and the integrity of our security agencies and the judiciary.

“And lastly, the vigilance of citizens is what will determine the credibility of the next elections, because democracy is not self-executing. It requires guardians, and the citizens of this great country are the guardians that we need.”

‘Gaps, Loopholes’

Former INEC National Commissioner, Okechukwu Ibeanu, reinforced the need for systemic commitment over legislative tinkering.

“I think there are still gaps and loopholes in the law, and it’s unfortunate that it took us debating about a proviso for the country to come to a consensus that electronic transmission was actually in the 2022 act.

“But what we have done is actually to take us far back to 2018… We consistently tinker with the electoral legal framework as if that holds all the answers to our electoral problems,” Ibeanu cautioned.

He urged citizens to remain the ultimate watchdogs.

“Citizens, this is about you. It is not about politicians; it is not about INEC. Except citizens are in a position to protect their votes and control those who ostensibly represent them, our dream of a truly democratic country will remain an illusion,” he added.

Chidi Nwafor, who is a former director of information and communication technology at INEC, said security agencies and the judiciary play a crucial role in maintaining the sanctity of elections in Nigeria.

He also urged INEC to assess sections 50 and 70 of the Electoral Act.

Lawmakers Disagree

The chairman of the bipartisan conference committee on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill to harmonise differences between versions passed by both chambers of the National Assembly, Adebayo Balogun, stated that Form EC8A remains the primary source of collation of results.

But the member representing Anambra Central at the National Assembly, Senator Victor Umeh, described the INEC Result Viewing portal, IREV, as the game-changer.

He noted that the inclusion of a proviso that allows the presiding officer to use the Form EC8A remains a challenge, adding that the electronic transmission of the Form EC8A to the IREV was to forestall manipulation.

Similarly, a former Director of Voter Education at INEC, Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, said the Electoral Act has taken Nigeria back with the proviso on manual collation when the network fails.

“Who is the judge when there is a network failure? Is it the electoral officer?” he queried.

For the Head of ICT at the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Oluwadara Oluwalana, Nigeria has the capacity to try out technology in the 2027 polls, with the collaboration of operators.

“Yes, I believe telecom operators can come together and make it work. I think we have the capacity now,” he submitted during the panel discussion.

‘Defections To APC Fair’

Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, said the Electoral Act did not confer any advantage to the ruling party.

Asked whether it was fair that the APC allowed politicians who won elections on the platform of opposition parties to defect to the ruling party, Yilwatda said, “Very fair, very fair because you will discover that many of those political parties are already dying.

“They saw a reason to join us because of how we operate as a party—from party management to organization and mobilization,” Yilwatda said at the event.

“APC seems to be the best party in terms of mobilization, organization, and governance. That provides a leeway for competition. When I go to the market, I have a choice to make: a choice between good governance, good party management, and a transparent system,” he added.

However, a chieftain of the African Democratic Party, Sam Amadi, said the submission of the INEC chairman it the commission’s preparedness for the general elections does not inspire confidence.

Among those who attended the event are serving and former members of the National Assembly, representatives of security agencies, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders in the electoral process.

A former Country Director of ActionAid, Ene Obi, faulted the campaign spending guideline set out in the Act, expressing worry over how this can prevent Nigerians with less financial capacity to vie for public offices.

“Another thing to look out for is the source of whatever money they are talking about,” she added.

New Law

Nigeria recently updated its electoral system after President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act 2026 into law on February 18, 2026, after weeks of heated debate, replacing the 2022 legislation ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Key provisions of the new law include the mandatory electronic transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, recognition of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), new timelines for election notices and candidate nominations, revised methods for party primaries, and earlier release of funding for the electoral commission.

While Tinubu explained that the amendment aims to strengthen transparency, opposition parties and civil society organisations slammed aspects of the law, arguing that certain discretionary powers granted to electoral officials during technical failures could affect the credibility of the election.

The Commission had earlier fixed Saturday, February 20, 2027, for the presidential and National Assembly elections and Saturday, March 6, 2027, for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.

A former Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi, has raised concerns over the increase in campaign spending limits introduced in Nigeria’s newly amended electoral law, questioning both the practicality of the figures and the sources of campaign financing.

Obi spoke on Sunday at the Citizens’ Townhall on the Electoral Act 2026 held in Abuja, where she examined key provisions of the new legislation and their implications for Nigeria’s electoral process.

Reacting to the revised spending thresholds, Obi noted that while the limits were adjusted from those contained in the 2022 law, the new figures raise critical questions about equity and transparency in political participation.

“For the campaign limits now, the presidential campaigns used to be five billion in 2022, and now it has been taken to ten billion, and the governorship, from one billion has been taken to three billion.

“Many people look at who wants to go in for elections, where are they going to get one billion? Another thing we need to look at is the source of whatever money they are talking about,” she said.

READ ALSO: Amended Electoral Act Has Given Us Hope — Ex-INEC ICT Director

She warned that without stronger oversight of funding sources, the higher ceilings could deepen concerns about undue influence in the political process.

Nigeria’s electoral framework was revised after President Bola Tinubu signed the Electoral Act 2026 into law on February 18, following its passage by the National Assembly.

The new law significantly increases campaign spending limits, raising the presidential cap from ₦5 billion to ₦10 billion and the governorship limit from ₦1 billion to ₦3 billion.

Senate candidates can now spend up to ₦500 million, House of Representatives candidates ₦250 million, and State Assembly candidates ₦100 million, while the donation limit jumps from ₦50 million to ₦500 million.

The Act also mandates electronic transmission of results, formally recognises BVAS, imposes stricter penalties for electoral offences, and shortens timelines for resolving election disputes.

‘Timely Electoral Preparations’

Obi also highlighted the importance of the amendment in addressing logistical delays that affected previous elections, particularly in relation to procurement and planning timelines for the electoral body.

“For the 2022 Electoral Act, the issue was that it was getting too late so that INEC could roll out their work, and now you are saying six months before, with procurement and all the bottlenecks, that is why a new amendment is important.”

She added that financial independence and early planning remain crucial to improving election administration.

Weighing in on electronic transmission of results, Obi emphasised that the 2022 law had already recognised technology such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and permitted transmission, but implementation challenges stemmed largely from human factors rather than legal gaps.

“When you are looking at the Electoral Act of 2022, it acknowledges the BVAS and also allows transmission. The issues of transmission, we are talking about it as if it never happened, or it wasn’t there; it was there. The human element brought in the issue of glitches because they had the capacity.”

She explained that the focus should be on whether results are transmitted at the point of accreditation, rather than on connectivity delays.

“What we are saying is that you can transmit, whether you are talking about real-time or not, where you are accredited, the machine is able to do transmission at that time. Whether it connects at that time is secondary; did you transmit at that very moment? That is what we are talking about,” she said.

A member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Sam Amadi, has called for the amendment of the Electoral Act 2026 to remove the proviso that allows manual transmission of election results where there is no network for electronic transmission.

He made the call on Sunday during the Citizens’ Townhall on the 2026 Electoral Act, describing the amendment as urgent and important.

Amadi argued that if President Bola Tinubu could revert the national anthem in one day, the Electoral Act 2026, which was signed into law last month, could still be amended.

“By default, electronic transmission is now optional. My position is that we can still amend this law; by the way, President Tinubu amended the national anthem in one day. Let there be consensus to amend this section to allow INEC to do their regulation, INEC captures the event of failure,” Amadi said.

Amadi warned that the proviso could create confusion in the electoral process, as officers might decide not to upload results on the basis of poor or unavailable network.

“Communication is not just electronic, this is a bad law, it could go for anything, including poor communication from the headquarters to the polling officer. Even if you have the internet, the polling officer may refuse to transmit on the basis that there was no communication. We should amend this section of the law quickly; it is very important.”

READ ALSO: Why NASS Should Scrap Manual Transmission Clause In Electoral Act 2026 – Itodo

Also speaking at the programme, the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo, called on lawmakers to recommence the amendment of the Electoral Act 2026 to expunge the proviso that allows manual transmission of results.

According to him, the proviso negates the core objective behind the push to amend the Electoral Act 2022, which he said was intended to make the electoral process more transparent by reducing human interference.

“I just wish that the lawmakers would eliminate that particular proviso. This is why we made a call to them to commence the process of amending that Act and just delete that particular proviso.