A leading presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Peter Obi, on Monday joined a coalition of Civil Society Organisations at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja to protest against the Senate’s decision to remove real-time electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the protest implored Nigerians to stage similar protests across the 36 State Houses of Assembly.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards displayed by the protesters read: ‘We reject the Senate rejection’, ‘No real-time transmission = No credible elections’, ‘No more glitch, 2017!’, ‘Our votes must count’, ‘No to electoral robbery’, ‘Protect democracy now’, ‘Conference Committee must retain the progressive provisions agreed by the joint Committees’, and ‘Give INEC sufficient time! Increase election notice timeline to 360 days’, among others.
The protest, tagged ‘Occupy the National Assembly,’ was organised by pro-democracy activists including Aisha Yesufu, who described the lawmakers’ action as a deliberate attempt to undermine electoral transparency ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The protestors, who chanted solidarity songs, were prevented from gaining access to the complex by armed security personnel drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who barricaded the main entrance, forcing the protesters to hold their demonstration outside the gates.
Addressing journalists at the protest ground, Mr Peter Obi condemned what he described as the steady erosion of democratic gains in the country, warning that credible elections remain the foundation of national stability and development.
“We must dismantle this criminality and prove that we are now a nation that shows light in Africa,” he urged.
Mr Obi further warned against the repeat of the alleged electoral fraud which occurred during the 2023 presidential election, saying: What we want is an electoral process that is transparent from beginning to finish.
“Our demand about the amendment is simple, let us have an amendment that allows, first, let’s know the qualifications of people who want to contest elections and that must be advertised. So, if anybody says I went to primary school, I went to secondary school and university, people are supposed to know about that…
“Finally, elections must be transmitted electronically from the polling unit direct. We don’t want any transit point any longer; let them transmit live. Let everybody watch it. That’s what is happening in South Africa, that’s what is happening in Ghana and everywhere. The giant of Africa has refused to be giant in anything. We cannot continue to shame Africa. We now want the giant of Africa to be a true giant of Africa, and the only way we can do it is to live a transparent, honest life, starting from our electoral processes.”
When asked about the danger of continuing with the current Electoral Act, 2022, Mr Obi said: “Do I have to tell you the danger? The danger we saw in 2023. The danger was clear, we have suffered the danger, that’s what we suffered before. We don’t want any glitch again.”
On her part, Aisha Yesufu, who frowned at the selfish nature of the Senators and indeed the National Assembly, said: if the social contract between the citizens and members of the National Assembly was strong, there wouldn’t be any need; you would believe their words.
“But the National Assembly has not given Nigerians reasons to believe their words, and that’s why Nigerians are coming out. On Friday, we were here; we ought not to come because they were not here. Today again, they are not sitting; we are here. It’s to send the message to them that it’s no longer business as usual, that indeed Nigerians are tired because ordinarily you’ll say let’s see what they do during the sitting, but they’ve not shown they have our interests at heart.
“They have shown that they are more defenders of the Executive than they are of the people. That’s the reason why people are saying they have to come out tomorrow.”
Yesufu, who warned against leaving the transmission of election results at the discretion of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), maintained that the failure of the electoral process starts with fraudulent legislation.
“We saw in 2023, even though INEC said they were going to transmit, they ended up not doing it, and there was nothing that we could legally hold them to because the court said that even though they were bound to follow what they said they would do, there was nothing anyone could do.
“So that’s why that needs to be taken to ensure that there’s mandatory transmission of election results, and it’s no longer at the discretion of INEC. Yet it’s not the thing that will solve the whole problem of Nigeria, but it is what will ensure that what Nigerians voted for actually happens.
“It doesn’t matter whether Nigerians decide to vote for a good person or a bad person; whatever it is, let it be that it is the choice of Nigerians that is announced, not the choice of some people who sit down and cancel result sheets and put their own.”
On vote buying, she noted that electronic voting will solve the problem, accusing politicians of pauperising electorates in order to engage in vote buying.
“The issue of vote buying, at the end of the day, as long as it’s unlawful, they will know that they are the ones who sold their votes. There’s a difference between someone who came, collected money, and voted another way, and someone who came, refused to collect money, voted, and their vote was changed. So that’s why we are focusing on electronic transmission; leave it the way it is. However people voted, we would see it. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, poverty has been weaponised and the people in government… they pauperise people so that they can easily buy their votes.”
On his part, Social Influencer Peter Akah said, “Our visit is simple. We want to save democracy. The foundation is free, fair, credible, and peaceful elections, but somehow in Nigeria, we have democrats who do not like free, fair, and credible elections. In some African countries, military coups take place; nobody dies. In Nigeria, people die because they want to vote.
“The confidence of every corrupt politician in Nigeria is right, and criminal electoral processes and a corrupt judiciary. We want real-time mandatory transmission of election results. Anybody who says that’s not possible is a thief. If the government says that they do not know how to use technology, they should go and ask bandits and terrorists how they are calling kidnap victims for them to collect ransom.
“There’s maximum technology; it is mischief that’s making it difficult for us to have technology to reduce human interference and improve transparency. It must be done; my vote must count.”
On his part, National Coordinator of Obidient Movement Worldwide, Dr Yunusa Tanko, said the agitation would continue until the National Assembly explicitly restores real-time electronic transmission of results in the amended law.
He said, “If there is no electronic transmission of results, there will be no election. Our elections must be credible.”
Dr Tanko argued that past elections had been marred by manual interference during result collation, a problem electronic transmission was meant to address following reforms introduced after the 2011 and 2015 elections.
Also venting her view, a human rights advocate, Precious Oruche, urged Nigerians across the country to join the solidarity protest with a view to salvaging democracy.
She said: “Everybody will occupy their State Assemblies. We are starting with the National Assembly because we know this is where the problem is.
“When they don’t respond to us, other citizens that are willing to join but don’t have the energy to come to Abuja, we tell them, go to your state government. Block every road. Protest is a fundamental human right. We are citizens and not slaves.
“And at this point in time, we have decided that we will no longer be treated as slaves. Abuja is too small. The State Assembly is too small to ruin the hopes and lives of millions of Nigerians. We have allowed it before. We will allow it again,” she vowed.
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