Senator Victor Umeh, representing Anambra Central, has described President Bola Tinubu’s decision to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026 into law as expected, stating that the legislative process clearly pointed to that outcome .
Speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ on Thursday, Umeh said: “There is no surprise that it will be so. Anybody who was expecting the president not to assent to the bill is perhaps not honest to himself or herself. The whole process was predicted to end this way” .
Umeh traced the controversy to the debate over electronic transmission of election results, now captured in Section 63 of the amended law. He explained that the repealed Electoral Act 2022 only provided for result transfer in a manner prescribed by INEC, without expressly mandating electronic transmission .
Following disputes from the 2023 elections, the Supreme Court held that electronic transmission “was not expressly recognised by the Act,” necessitating the amendment to give clear statutory backing to electronic transmission .
Reflecting on the legislative process, Umeh disclosed that the Senate initially passed a version similar to the 2022 provision, while the House of Representatives adopted mandatory electronic transmission. When the mandatory clause was expunged, “we made noise. We went public. We said that wasn’t what we agreed to” .
The Senate later reinstated electronic transmission but inserted a proviso allowing exceptions for communication failure. Umeh warned this could weaken the reform, stating: “Once you say if this happens, you can jettison electronic transmission, you have opened the door back” .
President Tinubu signed the bill into law on Wednesday, citing concerns about broadband limitations and cybersecurity risks while maintaining that election outcomes are ultimately determined by human officials .
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