Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Tuesday passed the revised Electoral Act Amendment Bill against stiff resistance from members of the opposition political parties, who protested the inclusion of manual collation in clause 60(3) of the bill.
The disagreement began when House Speaker, Dr. Tajudeen Abbas called on the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Francis Waive to move a motion for the rescission and recommittal of the bill to allow for the reconsideration towards addressing matters termed “critical national issues.”
But immediately after Waive’s lead debate, lawmakers, mostly from opposition political parties disagreed with the move, insisting that the bill earlier passed by the House in December was well suited for the 2027 general election. But the APC lawmakers, with a commanding majority on the floor insisted that the day’s business must continue.
This development resulted in a rowdy session, leading the House into an executive session to address the disagreement.
Upon resumption from the executive session, opposition lawmakers continued the protest, calling for clause by clause consideration if the bill must be considered and asked the Speaker, who had vacated his seat for his deputy to preside.
The House finally settled for the clause by clause consideration of the bill after intervention by some members of the leadership.
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The process went on smoothly until it got to clause 60 of the bill, which deals with electronic transmission of election results. While the opposition lawmakers called for a division to allow for individual voting, most members of the ruling party disagreed, leading to another rowdy session.
After another intervention, the leadership settled for voice votes to decide whether to expunge or retain the provision for manual collation of results; a process that went the way of the ruling party.
Unsatisfied with the proceedings, most opposition lawmakers staged a walk out.
At the end of voting, the House retained all the recommendations in the recommitted bill, approving electronic transmission of election results alongside manual collation.
Lawmakers also reduced the notice of elections to 300 days to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC flexibility in the scheduling of election timetable towards accommodating concerns raised by northern leaders.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
