Former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi on Monday led a protest at the National Assembly demanding the restoration of real time electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The protest, tagged Occupy the National Assembly, drew hundreds of members of the Obidient Movement and civil society groups, who described the removal of the phrase real time as a setback for electoral transparency ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The Senate had recently passed the Electoral Act 2022 Repeal and Reenactment Amendment Bill 2026, but critics faulted the decision to delete real time from sections on electronic transmission of results. They argued that this change could weaken safeguards against vote manipulation.
Lawmakers have insisted that electronic transmission of results remains in the law, but protesters said removing the real time clause could allow post election interference and further erode public trust in the process.
Carrying placards with messages such as Our votes must count, No to electoral robbery and Defend democracy, the protesters marched from the Federal Secretariat to the National Assembly complex in Abuja.
Security personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps blocked the group at the main gate and stopped them from entering the complex.
Speaking to journalists, Obi warned against what he called the gradual weakening of democratic institutions and stressed that credible elections are essential for Nigeria’s stability and development. He said Nigeria must dismantle electoral criminality and prove it can be a beacon of hope in Africa.
Obi’s presence further energized demonstrators, many of whom see him as a key figure in the youth driven push for political and electoral reforms that gained momentum during the 2023 elections.
National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko, vowed that the agitation would continue until lawmakers clearly restore real time electronic transmission of results in the amended law. He said that without electronic transmission, there should be no elections because credibility must be guaranteed.
Tanko noted that manual interference during result collation has long undermined Nigerian elections, and that electronic transmission was introduced to reduce such abuses following reforms after the 2011 and 2015 polls.
He recalled that electoral reforms intensified after the widely criticised 2007 general elections, leading to the adoption of card readers in 2015 and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS in 2022, which improved transparency despite some operational challenges.
Another activist, Randy Peters, accused the political class of betraying democratic ideals and pledged that protesters would keep up pressure on the National Assembly. He said they would continue to return until the Senate takes steps that guarantee free and fair polls.
Peters invoked the June 12 1993 election, often described as Nigeria’s freest and fairest, and questioned why current leaders would resist reforms aimed at securing credible outcomes. He insisted that in 2027 the votes of Nigerians must count and promised that protesters would regroup at the National Assembly again.
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