Igini to lawmakers: Flawed e-transmission clause may wipe you out in 2027

FORMER Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner and legal practitioner, Mr Mike Igini, has cautioned that the National Assembly may be engineering its own electoral downfall if it retains the controversial proviso in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that weakens real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results.

In a public statement, Mr Igini said the disputed clause could leave a large number of federal lawmakers vulnerable in the 2027 general elections, particularly those who fall out of favour with state governors and party power brokers.

Lessons from the past

He urged senators and members of the House of Representatives to study the political fate of earlier assemblies, noting that many lawmakers who failed to reform the electoral framework later lost their seats through the same loopholes they refused to close.

According to him, previous legislatures declined to remove well-known weaknesses in the electoral process ‘for reasons of convenience and party loyalty.’ These gaps, he said, were later exploited during collation to overturn polling unit results.

“Those legislators became victims of the very system they allowed to remain defective,” he stated.

Governors, party leaders and ticket denial

Mr Igini cited electoral records from 2007 to 2023, explaining that most lawmakers denied party tickets by governors or party leaders were defeated at the collation stage, even after moving to alternative parties.

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He warned that the 10th National Assembly risks repeating this pattern, adding that lawmakers not in the ‘good books’ of political power centres will struggle to convert strong constituency support into victory if electronic transmission is not fully secured.

Turnover rates expose instability

To support his claims, Mr Igini highlighted the unusually high turnover in Nigeria’s federal legislature. In the 6th Senate (2007 2011), there was 79 percent turnover as against 67 percent in the 7th Senate.

The 8th Senate had a turnover of 64 percent, while the 9th Senate recorded a 59 percent turnover. The 10th Senate (2023–2027) had 77 percent turnover, with only 25 returning members out of 109.

In the House of Representatives, the 6th House had 78 percent turnover, while the 7th Senate had 72 percent. The 8th House had 69.4 percent turnover, with the 9t House boasting of 57 percent.

The 10th House had 70 percent turnover, with 251 new members and only 109 returnees

He said this level of attrition weakens legislative experience, wastes public funds on repeated induction programmes, and disrupts policy continuity.

Why e-transmission must remain direct

Mr Igini stressed that real-time transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) is not optional.

Publicly accessible results, he explained, prevent post-poll alterations at ward and local government collation centres and make manipulation immediately detectable.

He dismissed claims of poor network coverage as misleading, noting that before leaving office in 2022, INEC and the NCC recorded over 97 percent network coverage nationwide.

This, he said, enabled INEC to successfully transmit results electronically in more than 105 off-cycle elections, including five governorship polls, before the 2023 general elections.

Risk of deliberate sabotage

Mr Igini warned that the Senate’s qualifying proviso could open the door to collusion between political actors, collation officers, and telecom providers to deliberately create network failures on election day.

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Such loopholes, he said, undermine public trust and electoral transparency.

Cross River pilot from 2012

He recalled that real-time electronic transmission was already tested successfully in Cross River State in 2012 during the second-term election of Governor Liyel Imoke, under then INEC Chairman, Mr Attahiru Jega.

Results from all 18 local government areas were transmitted and displayed on a live dashboard, he said.

Legal backing ignored

Mr Igini argued that the law already empowers INEC to regulate its processes under Section 160 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 148 of the Electoral Act. He expressed concern over what he described as ‘statute sabotage’ and the courts’ refusal to fully enforce these provisions.

Final appeal

Mr Igini called on lawmakers to remove the controversial proviso and restore a clear, mandatory provision for real-time electronic transmission.

He also appealed to the judiciary not to become ‘the weakest link’ in Nigeria’s democratic defence. “The evidence is overwhelming,” he concluded. “Let wisdom prevail over convenience and party loyalty, so that history does not repeat itself.”