President Bola Tinubu signed the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment bill into law on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.
The development comes just a day after the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill on Tuesday.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that Tinubu signed the 2026 Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law during a signing ceremony that took place at the State House around 5:00 pm on Wednesday, with top national assembly leaders present.
Speaking after signing the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, Tinubu stated that the new legislation will help the electoral system of Nigeria.
According to him, it is high time Nigerians had confidence in their system.
“It’s not as important as the historical aspects of this. What is crucial is the fact that you manage the process to the extent that there will be no confusion, no disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and that we are all going to see democracy flourish.
“No matter how good the system is, it’s managed by the people, promoted by the people, and the result is finalised by the people,” The President said.
Addressing debates over mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results, Tinubu said: “In fact, for final results, you are not going to be talking to the computer; you are going to be talking to human beings who will announce the final results.
“And when you look at the crux of various arguments, maybe Nigerians should question our broadband capability. How technically are we today? How technically will we be tomorrow to answer the call of either real-time or not?
“And as long as you appear personally, as a manual voter in any polling booth, a ballot paper is given to you manually, you decide in a corner and thumbprint the passing of your choice, you cast your votes, without hindrance and any interference, ballots are subsequently counted manually, sorted, and counted manually.
“It’s just the arithmetic accuracy that is to enter into Form EC8A. It’s the manual, essentially. The transmission of that manual result is what we’re looking at.
“And we need to avoid glitches — I’m glad you did — interference, unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness.
“Nigeria will be there. We will flourish. We will continue to nurture this democracy for the fulfillment of our dream for the prosperity and stability of our country.”
There have been heated debates across the country, with lawmakers and prominent Nigerians disagreeing over the method for the transmission of results, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Recall that amid the debates, the Senate on Tuesday, voted for the manual backup for results transmission, retaining provisions in Clause 60 of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
This provision allows manual transmission of election results where a network failure occurs.
55 senators, mostly from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and two opposition members, voted in favour of retaining the proviso allowing manual transmission where the network fails.
Fifteen opposition senators voted against it, insisting on mandatory real-time electronic transmission.
Similarly, the House of Representatives has stepped down from its earlier decision on real-time transmission of election results and adopted the Senate version.
