Civil Society Coalition Plans Fresh Protest, Insists on Real-time Election Result Transmission

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Civil Society Situation Room has deplored the swift presidential assent to the Bill making real time electronic transmission of election results non mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

It said the signing of the Bill into law by President Bola Tinubu clearly contradicted years of reform advocacy, stakeholder consultations, and lessons learned from recent elections and election petitions.

The Situation Room warned that if nothing was done to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, it may be forced to mobilise members of the Civil Society Coalition and the Nigerian people to a national protest.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Co-Conveners of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Mma Odi and Celestine Odo said the coalition is demanding an urgent review and the corrective legislative action required on the clause for electronic transmission to make it mandatory without conditions.

They said, “The Situation Room and the Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTION) is also planning a National Day of Action in this regard and will make further announcements.”

Situation Room blamed the leadership of the National Assembly for failing to rise to the demands of the Nigerian electorates to correct the imperfections in the legal framework for elections that will guarantee a credible poll.

It said the amended law, in its current form, falls short of the minimum standards required to guarantee credible elections.

According to Situation Room, the absence of a mandatory electronic transmission clause weakens electoral integrity safeguards, adding that the new legislation threatens to reverse public confidence gains made in recent electoral cycles.