Tinubu signs amended Electoral Act Bill into law barely 24 hours after NASS’ passage

President Bola Tinubu has signed the amended Electoral Act Bill into law, barely 24 hours after the National Assembly ratified it in spite of the stiff opposition against it by many Nigerians, which led to days of protests at the National Assembly complex.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, during the emergency plenary, passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) bill, 2026, through Third Reading, with approval of both manual and electronic transmission of election results from each polling unit to the IREV portal, as prescribed in Form EC8A.

Despite the walkout protest staged by members of the Opposition lawmakers Caucus led by the Minority Leader, Rep. Kingsley Chinda, the House adopted Clause 60 on ‘Counting of votes and forms’, during the Committee of the Whole, chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Benjamin Kalu.

Clause 60(1) provides that: “The Presiding Officer shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form prescribed by the Commission.

“(2) The form shall be signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or their polling agents, where available, at the polling unit.

“(3) The Presiding Officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IREV portal, and such transmission shall be done after the prescribed Form EC8A has been signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and/or countersigned by the candidates or Polling agents where available at the Polling Unit.

“Provided that if the electronic transmission of the result fails as a result of communication failure and it becomes impossible to transmit the result contained in form EC8A signed and stamped by the Presiding Officer and countersigned by the candidates or polling agents where available at the polling unit, the form EC8A shall remain the primary source of collation and declaration of the result.