President Tinubu signs 2026 Electoral Act

President Bola Tinubu has officially signed the Electoral Act, 2022 (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026 into law, solidifying a hybrid system for result transmission that prioritizes manual collation as the final authority.

The legislation was passed by the National Assembly on Tuesday after extensive deliberations, with the Senate approving electronic transmission of results while retaining manual collation as a fail-safe.

The President gave his assent at the State House on Wednesday, joined by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker of the House Tajudeen Abbas, and Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila.

Speaking after the signing, Tinubu emphasized that democracy thrives on rigorous debate aimed at national development, stressing the need for Nigerians to trust their electoral system. “What is crucial is managing the process to ensure no confusion, no disenfranchisement, and that democracy flourishes,” he stated.

Addressing concerns about result transmission, the President clarified that despite technological advancements, the final declaration of results must remain human-led. “For final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the final results.”

Tinubu raised questions about Nigeria’s broadband capacity, urging citizens to consider the nation’s current and future technical readiness for real-time electronic transmission.

He detailed the voting process: voters cast ballots manually in polling booths, votes are counted manually, and the resulting arithmetic is entered into Form EC8A.

“The transmission of that manual result is what we’re looking at,” he explained, advocating for the hybrid model to prevent glitches, interference, and hacking. “We need to avoid… interference, unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness.”

The President concluded on an optimistic note, asserting that Nigeria would continue to nurture its democracy to achieve prosperity and stability.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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