BENIN CITY — Sir Rowland Owie, a prominent member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and a former Chief Whip of the Senate, denounced on Thursday the Nigerian Senate’s decision to reject the proposal for the mandatory electronic transmission of election results for the proposed Electoral Bill for the 2027 general elections, calling it a serious regression that undermines electoral transparency, credibility, and public trust in Nigeria’s democratic order.
Senator Owie claimed that the Senate’s move amounts to a purposeful undermining of the safeguards necessary to ensure free, fair, and verifiable elections in a statement he personally issued and made accessible to journalists in Benin City.
Recall that an amendment to Clause 70(3) of the Electoral Amendment Bill that aimed to mandate the electronic transmission of election results was rejected by the Senate on Wednesday.
Godswill Akpabio, the Senate President, clarified that the chamber only kept the Electoral Act’s current clause permitting results to be transmitted “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission,” but Senator Owie claimed that the stance maintains risky ambiguity and compromises public scrutiny.
“I condemn, in the strongest and most unequivocal terms, the decision of the Nigerian Senate to reject the mandatory, real-time electronic transmission of election results,” the statement said in part.
“At a time when Nigeria should be strengthening democratic trust, this judgment is a tragic surrender to secrecy and a significant setback for electoral reform.
Technology is being used around the democratic globe to increase transparency, lessen electoral manipulation, and rebuild public trust. Unfortunately, the Nigerian Senate has taken a different route, one that maintains ambiguity, safeguards loopholes, and upholds a system that has historically been vulnerable to abuse, change, and disagreement.
It is a democratic necessity, not radical or partisan, to transmit findings electronically in real time. It limits human intervention, prevents post-election tampering, and guarantees that the final results declaration accurately and transparently reflects the sovereign will of the voter as expressed at the polling place.
Rejecting this protection and reverting to the ambiguous 2022 framework provisions would be an indication that we are not ready to hold our elections up to public scrutiny. According to him, “such a stance raises serious and unsettling questions about the political establishment’s commitment to credible, free, and fair elections in 2027.”
“Democracy is not static; it must evolve in step with time, technology, and the legitimate expectations of the people,” Owie emphasized, highlighting Nigerians’ right to an electoral system that inspires trust and respects modern democratic ideals. Voters must decide elections in an open, timely, and verifiable manner; delays, arbitrary processes, or backroom changes are not acceptable.
Therefore, I urge Nigerians, civil society organizations, the media, and the global democratic community to be aware of this regression and to continue to demand an election system that adheres to contemporary democratic principles.
“Elections in Nigeria should be transparent, verifiable, and impervious to manipulation. Anything less would be a breach of the democratic promise and an insult to the voters.
