The Senate has dismissed reports claiming that it rejected the electronic transmission of election results during deliberations on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.
The clarification was issued by the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, shortly after the upper chamber passed the bill following a marathon session that lasted between four and five hours.
Consideration of the controversial amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the bill commenced at about 2:00 p.m. and continued until 6:26 p.m., sparking widespread speculation, particularly on social media, that lawmakers had voted against mandatory electronic transmission of election results.
Reports had suggested that the Senate rejected a proposal that would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit results electronically from each polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing (IREV) portal in real time, after signing and stamping the prescribed result forms.
It was further reported that the Senate opted to retain the existing provision of the Electoral Act, which empowers the presiding officer to transfer election results, including the total number of accredited voters and ballot outcomes, in a manner prescribed by the Commission.
However, Senator Akpabio described such interpretations as misleading, stressing that the Senate did not remove electronic transmission of results from the law.