The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has issued a sharp rebuke of the Senate’s recent decision regarding the real-time electronic transmission of election results, describing the move as an attempt to be clever by half.
In a statement released by National Publicity Secretary Comrade Ini Ememobong, the party alleged that the Senate is using legislative sleight of hand to undermine electoral transparency while appearing to support it.
The core of the PDP’s grievance lies in a newly introduced addendum to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026.
While the Senate reconsidered its initial opposition to electronic transmission, it added a provision allowing for manual transmission whenever technology is claimed to have failed.
The PDP viewed this as a strategic retreat designed to protect the manual collation process, which it claims has historically enabled result tampering.
According to the party, manual transmission is already legally accounted for; therefore, the current push for electronic mandates is specifically intended to create a mandatory, tamper-proof digital paper trail from polling units to collation centers.
The opposition party found it contradictory that the Senate would trust the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter identification but express doubt over its ability to transmit the resulting data.
The statement suggested that the caveat reflects a deep-seated fear among certain lawmakers.
Specifically, the PDP took aim at Senate President Godswill Akpabio, suggesting his stance is influenced by his 2019 election experience, where technology was used to limit overvoting.
The party warned that any attempt to stall electronic reforms would be viewed as prioritizing personal political survival over the health of the nation’s democracy.
With the bill heading to a conference committee, the PDP is demanding that lawmakers adopt the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives.
The House version is seen as more robust, favoring mandatory real-time uploads to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal without the loopholes introduced by the Senate.
The party emphasized that the 2027 elections represent a critical juncture for Nigeria.
It urged the committee members to focus on the sustenance of democracy rather than the instincts of politicians fixated on the next election.
The statement concluded with an appeal to the Nigerian public to remain firm in their demand for digital transparency.
The PDP maintained that the hard-won democratic process is too significant to be compromised by legislative caveats and called for an end to excuses regarding technological reliability.
