Senate’s ‘escape clause’ on e-transmission threatens credible 2027 election

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned that the Senate’s insertion of an “escape clause” allowing manual transmission of election results where technology is said to fail poses a threat to the credibility of the 2027 general elections.

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The PDP also described the Senate’s latest reconsideration of real-time electronic transmission of election results as a move that is “clever by half” and a veiled attempt to undermine electoral transparency.

The Senate last week voted against mandating real-time electronic uploading of results after counting, citing concerns about infrastructure and technological failure differences.

This sparked protests from civil society organisations and labour unions pushing that real-time electronic transmission from polling units to a central server would significantly reduce incidents of result manipulation, over-voting and falsification during collation—problems that have repeatedly undermined public confidence in elections.

However, the Senate on Tuesday approved both electronic and manual transmission of results.

“The clause being debated provided that presiding officers shall electronically transmit the results from the polling units to the INEC’s IReV portal and provided that if the electronic transmission fails and it becomes difficult to transmit the results, the Form EC8A will be the primary means of collation,” Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the amendment at plenary.

PDP’s Position

In a press statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, on Tuesday night, the opposition party faulted the Senate’s decision to introduce an addendum allowing manual transmission of results where technology is deemed to have failed.

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The PDP said the caveat defeats the essence of electronic transmission and amounts to a backdoor retention of practices that have historically enabled the manipulation of election results.

According to the party, manual transmission of results is already sufficiently provided for under the Electoral Act. The renewed agitation for electronic transmission is intended to introduce a second-layer authentication mechanism to prevent alteration of results between polling units and collation centres.

The statement argued that it was “inconceivable” for the same Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology that successfully accredits voters throughout an election to suddenly become unreliable for transmitting results generated from that same process.

The PDP alleged that resistance to electronic transmission within the Senate was driven by fear, singling out Mr Akpabio as a prominent opponent.

“This caveat is a clear indication of the humongous fear being harboured by senators opposed to electronic transmission, particularly Senate President Godswill Akpabio, whom we reasonably suspect remains haunted by the ghost of his 2019 election loss, occasioned by the deployment of technology to curb over-voting,” the statement stated.

READ ALSO: Electoral Act: Dickson faults Senate’s decision on electronic transmission of results

The PDP warned that Nigeria’s democratic future should not be sacrificed for narrow political interests.

It called on members of the Conference Committee of the National Assembly to adopt the version of the electoral bill earlier passed by the House of Representatives as the harmonised position.

The party insisted that this was the only credible path to guaranteeing transparent elections in 2027. It also called on Nigerians to remain resolute in demanding real-time electronic transmission of results, stating that history would judge those who opposed reforms aimed at strengthening democracy.