…..Increases Fine On Vote Buying To N5M
Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
In order to wrestle electoral frauds to the ground and actually return power to the electorate, the Senate is considering amendments to Nigeria’s Electoral Act today, with mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results.
The transmission will be from polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IREV) emerging as the centrepiece of the proposed reforms ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The proposal is contained in the report of the Senate Committee on Electoral Matters, which will be debated clause by clause during plenary after a preliminary closed-door session.
Lawmakers resolved to take up the report during Wednesday’s plenary after the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, informed the chamber that copies of the document had been circulated to senators to allow for advance review before formal consideration.
With the approval of the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Bamidele announced that senators would first meet privately to review the report, after which it would be taken at the Committee of the Whole for detailed deliberation.
Details of the report show that the committee proposed the insertion of a new subsection (3) into the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, aimed at addressing recurring challenges of result manipulation and ballot box snatching.
The proposed clause provides that “INEC shall electronically transmit election results from each polling unit to the IREV portal in real time, and such transmission shall be done simultaneously with physical collation of results.”
Beyond electronic transmission, the committee recommended additional safeguards to strengthen electoral integrity. A new subsection (2) was introduced to Section 77 to criminalise the failure of presiding officers to sign and stamp ballot papers and officially announced results.
The report also aligns the law with existing electoral technology by amending Sections 47(2) and (3), replacing references to the “smart card reader” with the “Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).”
To curb exploitation of vulnerable voters, Section 54(1) was amended to prohibit political party agents, candidates, or their officials from accompanying visually impaired or incapacitated voters into voting cubicles.
In a move to deter vote trading, the committee further proposed stiffer sanctions for the buying and selling of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), recommending an increase in the fine under Section 22 from N500,000 to N5 million.
Acknowledging the sensitivity of the legislation, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged lawmakers to study the report carefully ahead of its final consideration.
“Distinguished colleagues, as suggested by the Leader, please let us look into the report very well ahead of final consideration tomorrow, first at the closed-door session and then at the Committee of the Whole,” Akpabio said.
The Senate is expected to take a final position on the recommendations after Thursday’s plenary deliberations.
