Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Monday joined protesters at the National Assembly complex in Abuja to demand the inclusion of real-time electronic transmission of election results in Nigeria’s amended Electoral Act.
The protest, tagged Occupy National Assembly, was organised in response to the Senate’s passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, which removed the phrase “real-time” from provisions relating to electronic transmission of election results.
Although the Senate has issued explanations regarding the amendment, protesters insist that the law must clearly mandate the real-time electronic transmission of results to prevent manipulation and technical failures.
Speaking at the protest ground, Obi warned that the Senate must avoid a repeat of the technical glitches recorded during the 2023 general elections, stressing that transparent, real-time transmission of results remains critical to credible elections.
He said Nigeria’s democracy would only gain public trust if election processes were transparent, verifiable, and technologically secure.
Civil society organisations, women’s advocacy groups, and members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which Obi recently joined, were also present at the protest.
The protesters marched from the Federal Secretariat toward the National Assembly gate, where they were met with heavy security deployment. Personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were stationed around the complex, with barricades mounted at the entrance.
Despite the security presence, organisers stated that the protest would remain peaceful and confined to the National Assembly entrance, with no attempt to breach the premises.
They reaffirmed their call on lawmakers to amend the bill and explicitly reinstate real-time electronic transmission of election results to strengthen transparency and public confidence in future elections.
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