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Demonstrators gathered on Monday at the entrance of the National Assembly in Abuja for the “Occupy National Assembly” protest.
Security was heavy at the scene, with personnel drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The protest follows the passage of the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Reenactment) Amendment Bill 2026 in the Senate on its third reading.
The upper chamber did not, however, accept the proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3 of the bill, which aimed to mandate the electronic transmission of election results, when it passed the bill.
The rejected provision would have required the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presiding officers to electronically transmit results from each polling station to the IREV portal in real time, after the presiding officer’s signature and stamping of the required Form EC&A and the candidates’ countersignature.
Rather, the Senate accepted the current Electoral Act provision, according to the Commission, which states that “the presiding officer shall transfer the results, including the total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot.”
Although the Senate clarified that it did not reject electronic transmission, the demonstrators are demanding that lawmakers explicitly use the term “real-time electronic transmission” in the proposed Electoral Act.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said, “Electronic transmission has always been in our act. What we did was retain the existing provision, which already makes provision for electronic transmission.”
Members of civil society organisations, some women’s groups, and a few members of the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) gathered at the National Assembly entrance.
Police barricaded the entrance to the complex, while demonstrators said they had no intention of entering the premises.
Some civil society representatives told the press that the protest would remain at the gate.
The demonstrators began their march from the Federal Secretariat toward the National Assembly.
