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Proceedings in the House of Representatives descended into chaos on Tuesday after lawmakers clashed over a motion seeking to rescind the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The House of Representatives on Tuesday reversed its earlier position on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, aligning with the Senate by approving electronic transmission of election results with manual collation as a backup.
The lower chamber rescinded Section 60(3) of the bill it passed in December, which had mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically transmit results from polling units to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) in real time, alongside physical collation.
Under the revised clause adopted on Tuesday, electronic transmission remains mandatory. However, where communication failure prevents the upload of results, the manually signed Form EC8A will serve as the primary basis for collation and declaration.
The new provision states:
“(3) The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to IREV portal and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the Presiding officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or Polling agents where available at the Polling Unit.
“Provided that if the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure and it becomes impossible to transmit the result contained in form EC8A signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit, the form EC8A shall remain the primary source of collation and declaration of the result.”
The decision triggered protests from opposition lawmakers, who staged a walkout shortly after the clause was passed.
Led by Minority Leader Hon. Kingsley Chinda, the aggrieved lawmakers proceeded to the House of Representatives Media Centre, where they rejected the new clause and other amendments, describing them as “anti-people.”
The development marks a significant shift in the House’s stance and brings its position in line with that of the Senate on the contentious issue of result transmission.
