The House of Representatives has set up a conference committee to reconcile differences between its version of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill and the one recently passed by the Senate.
This was disclosed in a statement by the spokesperson of the House, Akin Rotimi (APC, Ekiti) on Thursday.
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According to the statement, the development, conveyed in an internal correspondence dated Wednesday, February 4, 2026, from the Clerk of the House, Yahaya Danzaria, follows separate passage of the amendment bill by both chambers of the National Assembly.
The seven-member conference committee will be chaired by Adebayo Balogun (APC, Lagos) and includes Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa), Sada Soli (APC, Katsina), Ahmadu Jaha (APC, Borno), Iduma Enwo (PDP, Ebonyi), Saidu Abdullahi (APC, Niger), and Zainab Gimba (APC, Borno).
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The panel has been tasked with meeting its Senate counterpart to harmonise divergent provisions in the two versions of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill before the final consolidated text is presented to the National Assembly for concurrence.
This move comes a day after the Senate passed the amendment bill following a third reading.
House and Senate passage
The House on 17 December, 2025 passed its version of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, advancing a suite of proposals aimed at strengthening electoral processes, improving transparency, and enhancing public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic system.
The House version, which was transmitted to the Senate for consideration and concurrence, contained several reform provisions, including proposals on electronic transmission of results, voter identification, and penalties for electoral offences.
The Senate, however, passed its own version of the bill on Wednesday, 4 February after prolonged deliberations and clause-by-clause consideration.
In the Senate’s version, lawmakers rejected a proposal to make real-time electronic transmission of election results from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IREV) mandatory, a provision that had featured in earlier drafts of the bill. Instead, the upper chamber retained the provision in the Electoral Act 2022 that allows results to be transmitted in a manner prescribed by INEC rather than making the real-time upload an absolute legal requirement.
The Senate also amended other key sections of the bill, including changes to the election timetable to reduce the notice period from 360 days to 180 days, shortening the deadline for submission of candidate lists from 120 days to 90 days before elections, strengthening penalties for vote buying by increasing fines under Section 22, and adjusting provisions governing post-election disputes.
These differences, particularly on electronic results transmission, voter accreditation and other procedural elements made it necessary for a joint conference to harmonise the competing texts.
Conference committee mandate
The conference committee is expected to meet with an equivalent team appointed by the Senate to iron out conflicting clauses and reconcile the language in the two bills. Once the harmonised text is agreed, it will be presented to both the House and Senate for final adoption before transmission to President Bola Tinubu for assent.
In the statement Mr Rotimi said the lower chamber reiterated its commitment to electoral reform that deepens transparency, credibility and public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process.
“The House of Representatives reiterates its commitment to advancing electoral reforms that strengthen transparency, credibility, and public confidence in Nigeria’s democratic process,” he said.
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