Electoral Act Amendment Bill backlash: Senate to hold emergency session Tuesday

By Haruna Salami

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has directed the reconvening of plenary for an emergency sitting on Tuesday, February 10th 2026.
A statement signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, indicated that all Senators are kindly requested to attend.
The emergency sitting will commence at 12 o’clock in the afternoon, the statement said.
It will be recalled that the Senate adjourned plenary on Wednesday February 4, 2026 to resume on Tuesday February 24, 2026 to enable them attend to the 2026 budget.
Before adjourning plenary on Wednesday February 4, 2026, however, the red chamber had passed what has become a controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026.
The controversy stemmed from Clause 60 (3), which the Committee on Electoral Matters recommended “electronic transmission of election results real time”, but the Senate amended the committee’s recommendation to use the word “transfer” instead.
However, before the end of the plenary, social media had begun trending with the story that the Senate had rejected electronic transmission of election results.
This forced Akpabio to explain that the Senate passed electronic transmission of election results.
The following day (Thursday), some senators across party lines addressed the press to insist that what they passed was electronic transmission of election results.
Therefore, the Senate President’s reconvening of Senate plenary next Tuesday may be to address this controversy as Nigerians are already condemning the Senate action.
The House of Representatives expressly passed electronic transmission of election results a week before the Senate came up with this controversy.
The next procedure is a conference (harmonization) committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives to adopt either the Senate or the House position before transmission to President Tinubu for his assent.