Senator Natasha throws weight behind real-time electronic poll result transmission

Natasha argued that rejecting the proposed change to the electoral law could be detrimental to the country’s democracy.

Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central, has backed calls for the compulsory real-time electronic transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

​She made her position known on Thursday in a post shared on her official Facebook page.

​On Wednesday, the Senate turned down a proposed change to Clause 60, Subsection 3 of the Electoral Amendment Bill. This amendment would have mandated the electoral body to upload results from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time.

​Instead, lawmakers opted to retain the current provision of the Electoral Act, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”

​The decision has sparked concerns across Nigeria, with some netizens accusing lawmakers of plotting to rig the 2027 election.

​Condemning the decision, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar described it as a deliberate assault on electoral transparency and a strategy that favours incumbents ahead of the 2027 general elections.

​In a statement released by his media office on Wednesday night, he said: “Real-time electronic transmission of results is not a partisan demand; it is a democratic safeguard. It reduces human interference, limits result manipulation, and ensures that the will of the voter—expressed at the polling unit—is faithfully reflected in the final outcome.

​“To reject it and adopt the 2022 provision on so-called electronic transmission of results is to signal an unwillingness to submit elections to public scrutiny.”

​Amid the backlash, the Kogi Central Senator indicated via her latest social media post that she supports the rejected bill.

According to her, turning down the proposed change to the electoral law could be detrimental to the country’s democracy.

​She wrote: “I, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, support the real-time electronic transmission of results. Failure of such steps is a lethal assault on Nigeria’s democracy.”