‘Please take it back’  —  Mike Igini urges Tinubu to reject new Electoral Act

Former Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner and lawyer, Mike Igini, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to reject the newly passed Electoral Act (Repeal and Re-Enactment) Bill 2026, warning that the proposed law could undermine Nigeria’s democratic process.

Igini made the call on Wednesday during an interview on Arise Television, following the passage of the bill by the Nigerian Senate on Tuesday after tense debates over Clause 60.

“It is my indeed humble recommendation to Mr President that you are a man of history. You were a senior man to very many of us in the struggle at the time when the journey of Nigeria and the prospect of democracy was less certain,” Igini said.

“What is going to be presented before you is a recipe for chaos. It’s a recipe to undermine all that you have done when we were in the trenches.

“What is put before you? Please take it back,” he added.

Igini recalled past political struggles in which election outcomes were determined by voters rather than state power, urging the president not to endorse a process that could weaken electoral credibility.

“And also remember that, at a time when the PDP was in office and when we were in office and they were saying that there was going to be a federal might, some of us stood out to say no. In 2015, it’s going to be the might of people, not federal might, but the might of the people through the ballot that should determine what will happen. You should be a man of history,” he said.

The former electoral official has in recent days intensified calls for the compulsory real-time electronic transmission of election results.

His intervention comes as the National Assembly moves to harmonise differing versions of the proposed electoral reforms, with real-time upload of polling-unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal emerging as one of the most contentious issues before lawmakers.

Igini warned that the decision before legislators could directly affect the credibility of future elections and their own political fortunes ahead of the 2027 general elections.

In a statement issued on Sunday, he argued that loopholes that permit alterations during manual collation of results have historically worked against serving lawmakers, particularly those who had lost the backing of their political parties.

According to him, closing such gaps through mandatory real-time electronic transmission would strengthen transparency and help restore public confidence in the electoral process overseen by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Vanguard News

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