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The Senate on Tuesday passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2026, following a stormy session marked by heated exchanges over provisions relating to the transmission of election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tension flared shortly after plenary resumed when Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South) demanded a division on Clause 60 of the bill. Senate President Godswill Akpabio<\/strong> said he believed the demand had earlier been withdrawn, a claim that drew immediate objections from opposition lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Citing Order 52(6) of the Senate Standing Orders, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin argued that it would be out of order to revisit a matter already ruled upon by the presiding officer. His submission triggered further uproar, with a brief face-off between Senators Sunday Karimi and Abaribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele reminded lawmakers that he had sponsored a motion for rescission, stressing that earlier decisions of the Senate on the bill were no longer binding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn line with the motion for rescission, the demand for division is in order,\u201d Bamidele maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Akpabio, however, suggested that Abaribe\u2019s insistence on a division was \u201can attempt to publicly demonstrate his position to Nigerians.\u201d He sustained the point of order and asked Abaribe to formally move his motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rising under Order 72(1), Abaribe called for a division on Clause 60(3), particularly opposing the proviso that permits manual transmission of election results in the event of failure of electronic transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the voting process, Akpabio directed senators supporting the caveat to stand, followed by those against it. Fifteen opposition senators stood in opposition. Announcing the outcome, the Senate President declared that 55 senators voted in support of the proviso, while 15 voted against it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before finalising the legislation, the red chamber also revisited concerns about the timing of the 2027 general elections and technical inconsistencies in the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again citing Order 52(6), Bamidele moved a motion to rescind the earlier passage of the bill and recommit it to the Committee of the Whole for fresh deliberations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He explained that the decision followed the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fixing the 2027 general elections for February 2027 after consultations with National Assembly leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to him, stakeholders had raised concerns that the proposed timetable conflicted with provisions in the amended law requiring elections to be scheduled not later than 360 days before the expiration of tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA critical review of Clause 28 shows that the 360-day notice requirement could result in the Presidential and National Assembly elections being held during the Ramadan period,\u201d Bamidele said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He warned that conducting elections during Ramadan could negatively impact voter turnout, logistics, stakeholder participation and the overall credibility of the electoral process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Senate also identified discrepancies in the Long Title and several clauses of the bill \u2014 including Clauses 6, 9, 10, 22, 23, 28, 29, 32, 42, 47, 51, 60, 62, 64, 65, 73, 77, 86, 87, 89, 93 and 143 \u2014 affecting cross-referencing, serial numbering and internal consistency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a related development, the House of Representatives also witnessed a rowdy session after it moved to rescind its earlier decision on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resolution followed a motion moved by Hon. Francis E. Waive pursuant to Order Nine, Rule 1(6) of the House Standing Orders during an emergency plenary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leading the debate, Waive recalled that the amendment bill was passed on December 23, 2025. He disclosed that a Technical Committee comprising leaders of both chambers, members of the Conference Committee, clerks of the Senate and House, and legal drafting experts later met to harmonise the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe committee discovered inconsistencies and unintended consequences in some of the provisions of the legislation,\u201d Waive said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt has become imperative to correct the identified inconsistencies and unintended consequences through appropriate legislative action in order to safeguard the integrity of the electoral framework,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Speaker Abbas Tajudeen<\/strong> put the motion to a voice vote, the \u201cnays\u201d appeared louder than the \u201cayes.\u201d However, he ruled in favour of the \u201cayes\u201d and declared the motion carried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ruling sparked immediate protests from several lawmakers, who accused the Speaker of disregarding the apparent majority voice. The chamber quickly descended into a tense atmosphere, with heated exchanges across the aisles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the uproar, Tajudeen stood by his decision, and the House subsequently moved into a closed-door session in a bid to restore order and deliberate further on the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Senate on Tuesday passed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill, 2026, following a stormy session marked by heated exchanges over provisions relating to the transmission of election results. Tension flared shortly after plenary resumed when Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (ADC, Abia South) demanded a division on Clause 60 of the bill. Senate President […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mlcqvjhyzqda.i.optimole.com\/cb:UNMm.7bb\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/frontlinenewsng.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/InShot_20260218_051857006-768x768-1.jpg?fit=768%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions\/982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontlinenewsng.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Senate Rescinds Bill Over 2027 Election Timing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Reps Descend Into Chaos Over Voice Vote<\/h3>\n\n\n\n