Electoral Bill: Senate to hold emergency sitting on Tuesday

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

The Senate has announced that it will hold an emergency plenary sitting on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, amid growing public controversy over its recent amendments to the Electoral Act.

The announcement was made on Sunday in a statement signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo.

“The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has directed the reconvening of plenary for an emergency sitting on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026,” the statement said, adding that the session would commence at 12 noon and that all senators had been requested to attend.

The emergency sitting comes barely days after the Senate passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on February 4 but voted down Clause 60(3), which sought to make the real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory.

The rejected clause would have required presiding officers at polling units to electronically transmit results directly to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Result Viewing (IReV) portal.

Instead, the Senate retained the existing provision allowing only the discretionary “transfer” of results after votes are counted and publicly announced at polling units.

The decision has triggered strong reactions from civil society organisations and opposition figures, who described the move as a setback for Nigeria’s democratic development.

However, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has defended the chamber’s position, insisting during a public engagement that the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of results and declaring that the legislature would not be intimidated.

Tuesday’s emergency plenary is expected to revisit the controversial amendment amid sustained public outcry and the prospect of legal challenges by some stakeholders, including human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.

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