Why Mandatory E-Transmission Matters: Lessons from 2023 Polls Fuel #OccupyNASS Protests
Key points:
- Lessons from 2023 elections fueled OccupyNass protests
- How the Supreme Court Ruling Strips IReV of Legal Weight
- Discrepancies in Recent Elections Highlight Urgent Need for Stronger Safeguards
- Senate Bows to Pressure, Makes Little Change
- Why This Reform Is Seen as Critical for 2027
By Emmanuel Kwada
Since February 9, 2026, thousands of Nigerians have gathered at the National Assembly complex in Abuja under the banner of #OccupyNASS. The protesters are demanding that lawmakers make real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results to INEC’s Result Viewing (IReV) portal a compulsory legal requirement.
They argue that without this change written clearly into the Electoral Act, Nigeria’s elections will remain open to manipulation, disputes, and declining public trust especially as the country approaches the 2027 general elections.
OccupyNass protesters are protesting at the National Assembly.
The protests gained momentum as united opposition figures including Peter Obi (Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate), Rotimi Amaechi (former Rivers State governor), and Omoyele Sowore (human rights activist), who have demanded that lawmakers enshrine compulsory electronic upload of polling unit results to IReV in the Electoral Act amendments after the Senate, in early February 2026, passed the Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 but refused to include a strict clause that would force presiding officers to upload results to IReV in real time.
This decision triggered widespread anger among civil society groups, opposition parties, and ordinary citizens who believe the current law leaves too much room for fraud during the collation stage.
How the Supreme Court Rulings Strip IReV of Legal Weight
In October 2023, the Supreme Court delivered judgments on the presidential election petitions brought by Atiku Abubakar (PDP) and Peter Obi (Labour Party) against the victory of President Bola Tinubu. These rulings are central to understanding why protesters are so focused on mandatory electronic transmission.
Evidence of over-voting were brought to court as exhibits by Peter Obi, but the court rejected them as IReV lacks legal backing.
The court made several key points:
The IReV portal is only a platform for members of the public to view polling unit results for transparency. It is not the official place where votes are collated or where final results are determined.
The Electoral Act of 2022 does not require INEC to transmit results electronically in real time. Sections 52 and 65 of the law give INEC the power to choose how results are transmitted.
Anyone challenging an election result faces a very difficult task.
If there are delays or complete failures in uploading results to IReV, those problems do not automatically cancel an election. The law still recognizes the manual collation process—using physical copies of Form EC8A—as the valid method.
Data shown on IReV has no legal weight in court. Judges will not accept screenshots, photographs, or IReV records as primary evidence. Only the physical result sheets (Form EC8A) signed at polling units and collation centers carry legal authority.
Because of these rulings, anyone challenging an election result faces a very difficult task. They must prove that problems with IReV actually changed the outcome of the election, and they cannot rely on electronic records alone.
This legal reality is one of the main reasons protesters want the law changed—so that electronic transmission becomes mandatory and IReV gains real legal backing.
Example of a tally sheet from a single polling station, one of almost 177,000 across Nigeria.
Discrepancies in Recent Elections Highlight Urgent Need for Stronger Safeguards
Several recent elections have shown exactly why people are worried about the lack of mandatory electronic transmission.
2023 Presidential Election
During the February 25, 2023, presidential vote, INEC promised that results from polling units would appear quickly on the IReV portal. In reality, uploads for presidential results were extremely slow or did not happen at all in many places, even though senatorial and House of Representatives results from the same polling units often appeared faster.
Opposition parties and supporters of Peter Obi shared thousands of photos and videos of polling unit result sheets showing one set of figures, while the officially announced results were different. Investigations, including reports by the BBC, pointed to suspicious changes in some states.
The results for Oyigbo (with the two largest parties highlighted)
However, because the Supreme Court later ruled that IReV is not mandatory, these discrepancies could not be used to overturn the election.
Kogi State Governorship Election (November 2023)
Usman Ododo of the APC was declared winner over Murtala Yakubu Ajaka of the SDP. Petitioners alleged serious irregularities, including possible mismatches between what was recorded at polling units and what was announced after collation.
The case went through the election tribunal, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court, but the victory was upheld. Once again, the courts emphasized that manual collation using physical forms is what matters legally, not electronic records—despite glaring evidence of over-voting and instances where collated votes exceeded the number of accredited voters in some polling units.
However, because there was no legal requirement mandating the electronic transmission of results, the opposing party had no strong legal basis to rely on.
Edo State Governorship Election (September 2024)
This election drew even more attention because of detailed reports from credible observer groups such as Yiaga Africa, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and others. Observers documented cases where votes recorded for the APC in some polling units were higher than the number of accredited voters.
Even when polling units are relatively transparent, the collation stage—where results are added together at local government and state levels—remains vulnerable.
There were also complaints about blurry or poor-quality uploads to IReV, unsigned result sheets being presented at collation centers while signed versions appeared online, and forensic analysis suggesting that some physical forms had been tampered with after leaving polling units. The PDP candidate took the matter to court, asking for the results to be reviewed or for supplementary elections in affected areas.
These three examples show a clear pattern: even when polling units are relatively transparent, the collation stage—where results are added together at local government and state levels—remains vulnerable to interference if there is no mandatory, real-time electronic record that everyone can see and verify immediately.
Senate Bows to Pressure, Makes Little Change (February 10, 2026)
Under growing pressure from the #OccupyNASS protests, the Senate held an emergency session on February 10, 2026. Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced that the chamber had amended Clause 60 of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
The new wording requires presiding officers at polling units to electronically transmit results to the IReV portal after they have completed, signed, and stamped Form EC8A (and after party agents have countersigned where they are present).
However, the amendment includes an important exception: if electronic transmission fails because of network problems or other communication issues, the manual collation process using the physical Form EC8A sheets will still be used as the main and legally accepted method.
This change is being presented as a compromise. It introduces electronic transmission as the normal procedure while recognizing that Nigeria still has many areas with poor or no mobile network coverage.
Some opposition senators were asking for only real-time transmission in the amendment. However, the protesters, along with those senators, say the exception clause is too wide and could be abused.
They were overruled by the majority, who voted yes on the motion to retain manual collation when electronic transmission fails. They fear that officials could claim “network failure” as an excuse to avoid uploading results and then alter them during manual collation—the very problem the protests are trying to stop.
To move the bill forward, the Senate increased the size of its conference committee from nine to twelve members.
This allows the committee to match the twelve-member team from the House of Representatives and work out any remaining differences between the two versions of the bill.
The hope is that the harmonized version can be passed quickly and sent to the President for assent.
Why This Reform Is Seen as Critical for 2027
The core argument of the #OccupyNASS protesters and many civil society organizations is simple: without a clear, mandatory requirement for real-time electronic transmission locked into law, several serious risks remain.
- Manipulation can still happen after polling units close, during the collation process.
- Discrepancies between what citizens see and photograph at polling units and what is officially announced will continue to fuel disputes.
- The IReV portal will remain a weak transparency tool with no real power to protect election results in court.
- Public confidence in elections will keep declining, making it harder to accept outcomes peacefully.
Many activists point out that countries with stronger electronic transmission laws have fewer post-election conflicts. They believe Nigeria must move in the same direction to protect the 2027 general elections.
The protests continue with large crowds, heavy security presence, and determination to stay until stronger reforms are secured. While the Senate’s February 10 amendment is viewed as progress by some, most demonstrators and observers say it does not go far enough.
The debate remains alive, and the coming weeks will show whether further changes are made before the bill becomes law.
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