By
Wale Alonge
Even before a single vote has been cast, Nigeria’s opposition has already declared the 2027 elections rigged and democracy murdered. Their hyper-hysteria over the e-transmission provisions of the newly enacted Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal & Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 has reached such absurd heights that one would not be surprised if election boycotts are soon threatened.
One is almost tempted to believe that the opposition is convinced that the only path to electoral victory in 2027 lies in hacking a real-time electronic results transmission system. Otherwise, how does one explain the incessant wailing, outlandish accusations, and collective hyperventilation—long before a single ballot has been cast? The hysteria would suggest that no credible election was ever conducted anywhere on the planet prior to the invention of the internet.
Yet history tells a different story. The most credible and transparent election in Nigeria’s history remains the low-tech Option A4 election of 1993, where voters simply lined up behind the photograph of their preferred candidate. Technology can enhance elections, but it has never been the sole determinant of electoral credibility.
The new electoral law allows for the electronic transmission of vote tallies from polling units to INEC’s IReV portal, with clear and practical safeguards. Where electronic transmission fails—due to network or technological challenges—the physically signed Form EC8A serves as the primary and legally binding result. To any rational observer, this is a commonsense provision, especially in a country where network failures are a daily reality, whether during phone calls or online banking transactions.
Yet the opposition insists that e-transmission must be mandatory under all circumstances, regardless of technological failure. This absolutist position ignores Nigeria’s infrastructural realities and elevates performative outrage above practical governance. It is the classic case of the boy who cries wolf.
Lost amid this feigned hysteria are several far-reaching reforms embedded in the amended Electoral Act—reforms that, taken together, strengthen electoral integrity far beyond the narrow fixation on e-transmission.
First, the law formally replaces the old smart card reader with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for voter accreditation and result collation. BVAS has already been deployed in recent elections; the amendment simply embeds it firmly in law.
Second, the Act introduces harsher penalties for electoral offences, including increased fines—up to ₦5 million—for vote-buying, alongside existing jail terms. It also imposes tougher sanctions for result falsification and obstruction of the electoral process.
Third, the legislation strengthens the institutional capacity and independence of INEC, clarifying its election management role and ensuring earlier release of election funds. These provisions are designed to reduce logistical bottlenecks and enhance operational efficiency—issues that have historically plagued Nigerian elections.
Fourth, the amended law tightens candidate qualification and party nomination rules, setting clearer timelines for party primaries and submissions, thereby reducing intra-party disputes and post-primary litigation.
Finally, the Act introduces important legal and procedural clarifications, particularly regarding the consequences of candidate disqualification and related judicial processes, closing loopholes that have previously undermined electoral certainty.
A serious opposition would engage these substantive reforms honestly and constructively. Instead, we are treated to crocodile tears and manufactured outrage over a single provision that already balances transparency with practicality. Democracy is not safeguarded by hysteria, nor is electoral credibility built on absolutism divorced from reality.
Nigeria’s democracy deserves rigorous debate, not theatrical panic. The real danger is not in conditional e-transmission, but in the deliberate erosion of public trust through reckless, pre-emptive delegitimization of the electoral process.
