SENATE PASSES ELECTORAL BILL AFTER FIVE- HOUR SESSION

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HOTJIST NEWS

The Senate passed the Electoral Act amendment bill on Wednesday after discussing each clause for five hours.

The bill was the only item on the agenda following a farewell session for the late Okey Ezea. It was approved by the full Senate after they considered and agreed to all 155 clauses.

Some parts of the bill were changed by lawmakers, but most of the clauses remained the same as proposed.

One of the amendments reduced the timeline for the Independent National Electoral Commission to publish a notice of election from 360 days to 180 days.

The Senate also rejected the option of transmitting election results in real time and kept the provision for electronic transfer of results as outlined in the 2002 Electoral Act.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced that a joint committee from the Senate and the House of Representatives will meet to align the Act and forward it to President Bola Tinubu for approval.

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Niyi Adegbonmire, chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights, and Legal Matters, will head the harmonisation committee from the upper legislative body.

Other members are Tahir Monguno, Adamu Aliero, Orji Kalu, Abba Moro, Asuquo Ekpeyong, Aminu Abass, Tokunbo Abiru, and Simon Lalong.

Akpabio clarified that the senate did not remove the electronic transmission of election results from the law.

“Distinguished colleagues, the social media is already awash with reports that the Senate has literally rejected electronic transmission of results,” he said.

“That is not true. What we did was to retain the electronic transmission which has been in the act and was used in 2022.

“So please, do not allow people to confuse you. If you are in doubt, we will make our final votes and proceedings available to you if you apply.

“This Senate under my watch has not rejected the electronic transmission of results. It is in my interest as a participant in the next election for such to be done. So please don’t go with the crowd.

“We have retained what was in the previous provision by way of amendment. That was all we did.

“The previous has made allowance for electronic transmission. So, it is still there as part of our law. We cannot afford to be going backwards.”