From David Onuoja, Abuja
In less than one year to the general elections, Nigeria Senate is set to commence the process of considering and passing the electronic transmission of results from polling units up to INEC Result Viewing Portal ( IREV) after the counting of votes.
In a swift decision, the Senate during plenary on Wednesday, when its Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti North), informed the Senators that the report billed for consideration should be circulated to all the Senators for scrutiny ahead of clause by clause consideration on Thursday yesterday.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, equally informed the Senators that a brief closed door session would be held on the report before general consideration at the committee of the whole.
According to the information available to our Correspondent in Abuja, the report shows that on page 45, a new subsection (3) was introduced into the 2022 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2025, to check manipulation of results and ballot box snatching.
Related News
This section, states that “INEC shall electronically transmit election results from each polling unit to IREV portal in real time and such transmission shall be done simultaneously with physical collation of results”.
In the report also, a new subsection 2 was introduced to section 77 to make the offence of failure of Presiding Officers to sign and stamp ballot papers and results announced by them, as punishable offense.
Section 47(2) and (3) were also amended by substituting the words “Smart Card Reader” with the words “Bimodal Voter Accreditation System”.
The Senate committee on Electoral Matters in the report, amended section 54(1) to check abuse of electoral process by those who take advantage of visually impaired and incapacitated voters by barring any political party agent, candidate or official from accompanying such voters into voting compartment.
Recommendation were also made for more stringent measures against buying and selling voters’ cards by any agent of political parties by increasing N500, 000.00 in section 22 to N5, 000.000.00.
Speaking further on this, Senate President President, Akpabio, in his remarks, appealed to all Senators to study copies of the report given to them very well ahead of final consideration during plenary.
