Proceedings in the House of Representatives descended into chaos on Tuesday after lawmakers clashed over a motion seeking to rescind the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The drama began during plenary when Francis Waive, Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business, moved a motion to reverse the decision on the bill earlier passed on December 23, 2025.
When Speaker Tajudeen Abbas put the motion to a voice vote, the chamber erupted. Although the “nays” appeared louder than the “ayes,” Abbas ruled in favour of the motion.
His decision immediately triggered protests from lawmakers, who shouted in objection. The Speaker then called for an executive session, but the proposal was again rejected by members. Despite the resistance, Abbas proceeded to move the House into an executive session.
Background to the Dispute
In December, the green chamber had adopted a proposal mandating the real-time electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
The approved clause states that:
“The presiding officer shall electronically transmit the results from each polling unit to the IReV portal in real time, 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 unit agents, where available at the polling unit.”
However, earlier this month, the Nigerian Senate passed its version of the Electoral Act amendment bill but rejected the proposal for mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results — a move that sparked protests and calls for a reversal.
On Tuesday, the Senate rescinded its earlier decision and approved electronic transmission to IReV, adding a clause that manual collation would serve as a fallback in the event of technological failure.
Due to the variations in both chambers’ versions of the bill, the Senate and the House constituted a conference committee to harmonise the legislation. Differences reportedly remain in other sections of the proposed amendment.
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have since urged the National Assembly to adopt the House’s original position on the electronic transmission of results, describing it as critical to electoral transparency.
