Senate President Godswill Akpabio has directed the Senate to reconvene for an emergency plenary session on Tuesday,February 10, following mounting public pressure on lawmakers to include mandatory electronic transmission of results in the ongoing amendment of the Electoral Act.
Akpabio issued the directive in a memo signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, dated February 8, and circulated to senators, announcing the emergency sitting without stating the reason for the emergency plenary.
“I am directed by His Excellency, the President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, GCON, to inform all Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that an Emergency Sitting of the Senate has been scheduled to hold as follows: Date: Tuesday, 10th February, 2026. Time:12:00 Noon. Venue: Senate Chamber.
“Distinguished Senators are kindly requested to note this Emergency Sitting date and attend. All inconveniences this will cause to Distinguished Senators are highly regretted, please,” Akpabio wrote.
There are strong indications that the decision to reconvene is linked to widespread public outrage over the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed by the Senate last Wednesday. The upper chamber had adjourned for a two-week recess after approving the bill on Wednesday, to enable senators to engage heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the defence of their 2026 budget proposals.
Although the amendment introduced several changes to the law, public debate has centred largely on one contentious provision: the rejection of mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling units to INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
However, many political parties, politicians and civil society actors have criticised the clause and called on lawmakers to reverse it, as some advocacy groups have also threatened mass action. A coalition operating under the banner Enough is Enough has begun mobilising supporters for a protest at the National Assembly, using the hashtag #OccupyNASS.
Amid the criticism, some senators in the minority caucus told journalists on Thursday that the Electoral Act amendment bill does, in fact, accommodate electronic transmission of election results.
However, Akpabio, speaking at a book launch on Saturday, acknowledged that the Senate removed the provision for mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results during the clause-by-clause consideration of the amendment.
The Senate president said the decision was informed by concerns that enforcing real-time transmission could lead to legal disputes in the event of network failures during elections.
Under Clause 60 of the bill, the Senate retained the provision in the 2022 Electoral Act which permits the transmission of results to collation centres.
On voter identification, Clause 47 was amended as lawmakers rejected a proposal to allow alternative forms of identification other than the Permanent Voter Card (PVC). While “smart card readers” were replaced with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for accreditation and voting, the Senate retained the PVC as the sole mandatory means of voter identification at polling units.
Earlier, the bill had proposed that because BVAS does not read the microchip embedded in PVCs, the card should no longer be compulsory, allowing voters to use the National Identification Number (NIN), international passport or birth certificate. However, the Senate disagreed and upheld the PVC as the primary mode of identification.
On Clause 22, which deals with PVC-related offences, lawmakers rejected a proposed 10-year jail term for buying and selling PVCs. They instead retained a two-year imprisonment term and increased the fine from N2 million to N5 million.
Regarding proof of non-compliance, the Senate deleted Clause 142, which would have allowed political parties to establish non-compliance solely through original or certified documentary evidence without oral testimony. Lawmakers argued during clause-by-clause consideration that the provision would amount to a “waste of time in court.”
On ballot paper inspection, Clause 44 was retained, maintaining the existing procedure that gives political parties two days to submit written approval or disapproval of their representations on sample ballot papers. INEC is also required to invite parties to inspect sample electoral materials at least 20 days before an election.
Under Clause 29, the deadline for political parties to submit candidate lists was reduced from 120 days to 90 days before an election.
To curb vote buying, lawmakers also amended Clause 22 to impose stiffer penalties, increasing the fine for offenders from N500,000 to N5 million.
On post-election disputes, the Senate amended Clause 136 by removing the power of election tribunals to declare winners outright in certain situations. The amendment provides that where a candidate is found not to have been validly elected for failing to score the majority of lawful votes, a rerun election shall be conducted, and the disqualified candidate and sponsoring party will be barred from participating.
This provision departs from the 2022 Electoral Act, which allows a tribunal to declare the candidate with the second-highest number of valid votes the winner where the candidate with the highest votes is found to be unqualified.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.