Utomi, Ezekwesili, Falana, others kick against Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of results

By Henry Umoru

The Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) has condemned in very strong terms the decision of the Senate to remove and refuse the mandatory electronic transmission of election results as proposed by the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026.

The body has called on the Senate to immediately reinstate and pass the mandatory electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, as well as publicly account for those members who opposed this clause, so they do not use the cover of the Senate or House of Representatives to avoid public scrutiny and explanation of their positions to Nigerians.

According to MCE, Nigerians must ensure that they are made to account for the use of legislative powers as a system they have benefited from in the last twenty six years since Nigeria became a democratic state.

Leaders of the Steering Council of the newly launched MCE include: Dr Usman Bugaje, Prof Pat Utomi, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Barr Femi Falana, SAN, Amb Nkoyo Toyo, Hajia (Dr) Bilikisu Magoro, Comrade Ene Obi, Comrade Salisu Mohammed, Comrade Bala Zakka, among others.

In a statement signed on Saturday in Abuja by MCE Media Coordinator, Comrade James Ezema, the group described the action of the Senate as not lawmaking, but a deliberate democratic sabotage against the aspiration of the people of the country as Mandatory electronic transmission of results is not controversial.

According to the group, the transmission process is a minimum safeguard against result tampering, ballot rewriting, and post-election fraud, warning that any legislature that blocks it is openly defending a system that thrives on electoral corruption, stolen mandates and manufactured elections.

The statement read, “A newly launched coalition of groups of leading Political Activists in Nigeria, Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) categorically rejects the decision of the National Assembly through the Senate to remove and refuse the mandatory electronic transmission of election results as proposed by the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026.

“The action of the lawmakers is considered by MCE as a direct assault by the National Assembly to subvert the right of Nigerians to freely choose the leaders of their choice. By rejecting the mandatory transmission of election results from the polling units and other critical clauses, the National Assembly has chosen opacity over transparency, manipulation over credibility, and elite conspiracy over the sovereign will of the people.

“This is not lawmaking—it is deliberate democratic sabotage against the aspiration of the people of our country as Mandatory electronic transmission of results is not controversial. It is a minimum safeguard against result tampering, ballot rewriting, and post-election fraud. Any legislature that blocks it is openly defending a system that thrives on electoral corruption, stolen mandates and manufactured elections.

“MCE therefore wishes to make it clear that there is no acceptable justification for rejecting mandatory transmission except for the fear of the genuine votes and mandate of the electorate.

“What this rejection means to many who have come together under the banner of this new coalition is that the status quo where results are vulnerable to manipulation between polling units and collation centres will remain and be exploited in 2027; If we fail to provide the transparency desired by Nigerians, apathy will grow and this in turn will undermine public confidence in elections with citizen choosing to express their votes in other ways.

“Not only has the failure of transparent elections outcomes rewarded impunity and electoral fraud, it has enabled the courts to become the tool of mandate purchase by the highest bidders and appendage of the executive, not independently working to entrench the rule of law.
“Whereas elite state capture has become the order of the day in Nigeria, where impunity and oppression reign, this anti democratic action of the lawmakers show an unwillingness to submit themselves to transparent competition in desperate bid to be beneficiaries of the corrupt systems enthroned since 1999.

“This decision confirms what Nigerians already know that the Nigerian political class are afraid of technological transparency because it exposes their shaddy and corrupt dealings during elections.

“MCE, as a citizens’ movement and vanguard of groups seeking to see the enthronement of credible elections in Nigeria, is all-inclusive and a non-partisan civic platform of Nigerians from every walk of life—youth, women, persons with disabilities, workers, professionals, grassroots communities, civil society groups, faith-based actors, and Nigerians in the diaspora- and united by one simple principle that every vote must count and be protected.

“The emergent coalition convened by eminent activists, who include Comrade Ayuba Wabba, Dr Usman Bugaje, Barr Femi Falana, SAN, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Prof Pat Utomi, Dr Bilikisu Magoro, Amb Nkoyo Toyo, Comrade Shehu Sanni, Comrade Ene Obi, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi among others is also resolved not to be beholden to any party or politician, as the MCE belongs to Nigerian Citizens whose votes have been rigged and stolen from one election to the other since 1999.

“To this end, MCE demands:- the following from the National Assembly: Immediately reinstate and pass the mandatory electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026.

“Publicly account for those members who opposed this clause, so they do not use the cover of the Senate or House of Representatives to avoid public scrutiny and explanation of their positions to Nigerians.

” Ensure that they are made to account for the use of legislative powers as a system they have benefited from in the last 26 years since Nigeria became a democratic state.

“As the vanguard of the collective action of Nigerians for credible elections in 2027, we are calling on all our partners and allies to join ‘The Occupy NASS Protest’ scheduled for Monday 9th February 2026.

“By this medium, we are calling on our teaming partners and allies not to accept any attempt to rollback the planned Occupy NASS mass protest but to mobilize and proceed peacefully on a mass civic action to defend the popular yearnings of Nigerians in resisting any attempt to return Nigeria to the dark days of manual manipulation and backroom results arising from the distortions occasioned by glitches and interferences with the will of the electorate.

“Again, as we converge in Lagos on Monday, 9th February, as earlier scheduled to address the world on the consequences of another rigged election in Nigeria, We call on Nigerians everywhere—students, workers, traders, professionals, women, youth, community leaders, the media, and the international community—to stand up and speak out and be counted in the emergency Occupy NASS mass protests holding in Abuja

“Lastly, we wish to assert that it should be possible, in addition to mandatory transmission, to show that results transmitted electronically are in sync with the documentation at the polling unit. MCEN believes that, in addition to the transmission, there should be the Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) as is the practice in India because democracy dies when votes are allowed to be stolen. It’s time to end electoral rigging in Nigeria!”

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