The African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) have outrightly rejected the recently signed Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, describing it as a threat to democracy and an attempt to establish a one-party system in Nigeria.
The opposition parties made their position known at a joint press conference in Abuja on Thursday, where the NNPP National Chairman, Dr. Ajuji Ahmed, addressed journalists on behalf of the coalition.
Ahmed declared that the opposition would deploy all constitutional avenues to block the implementation of the Electoral Act.
“We demand that the National Assembly immediately commence a fresh amendment to the Electoral Act 2026, to remove all obnoxious provisions and ensure that the Act reflects only the will and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, transparent and credible electoral process in our country. Nothing short of this will be acceptable to Nigerians,” he said.
Reacting separately on his X account, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said he joined other leaders of the main opposition parties at the Abuja briefing, where the law was strongly condemned.
“This afternoon, I joined other leaders of the main opposition parties in Nigeria, at a Joint Press Conference in Abuja,” Atiku stated.
“We rejected the 2026 Electoral Act hastily signed into law by the Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress administration. The rejection was followed by a call to reenact the law in line with the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians.”
Atiku said he aligned fully with Dr. Ahmed’s position, particularly on contentious provisions in the amended law.
“I totally agree with Dr Ajuji Ahmed, the National Chairman of the New Nigerian People’s Party (NNPP) who clearly articulated our rejection of the amended 2026 Electoral Act, especially Section 60(3) which encourages Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to also adopt manual instead of mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results to the IREV portal, under claims of network failure in a country with more than 90% Internet coverage,” he said.
He added: “We also jointly rejected Section 84(2) that imposes Direct or Consensus mode of primary election on political parties.”
The former presidential candidate further described the amended legislation as “offensive, anti-democratic and a deliberate attempt by the APC-led National Assembly to undermine transparency and sanctity of our elections.”
According to him, the opposition must unite to defend Nigeria’s democratic process.
“I used the occasion to call on all opposition political parties to join in this mission to rescue our Democracy,” Atiku stated.
“Now is the time to push back on the rigging plan ahead of 2027.”
