The Nigerian Senate is poised to consider and potentially pass the highly anticipated 2025 Electoral Act Amendment Bill during its plenary session on Thursday. The move follows a deliberate pause by the upper chamber to ensure lawmakers have sufficient time for a comprehensive, clause-by-clause review of the proposed legislation.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio underscored the gravity of the bill, asserting that the amendment is far too critical to Nigeria’s democratic stability to be treated as routine business.
To prevent future legal disputes and election tribunal challenges, the Senate President directed that all Senators receive personal copies of the bill for overnight study. A closed-door session will also precede Thursday’s plenary to allow for high-level deliberation on the bill’s most sensitive provisions.
“This is not a bill to be rushed,” Senator Akpabio stated. “A careful review will ensure a free, fair, and credible electoral process that benefits every Nigerian, regardless of political affiliation.”
The 2025 Amendment Bill introduces several transformative measures designed to modernize Nigeria’s voting system and enhance transparency:
Electronic Transmission of Results: Mandating the real-time transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (iREV), alongside traditional physical collation.
Technological Upgrades: Formally replacing references to “smart card readers” with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to reflect current technological standards.
Stricter Accountability: Introducing penalties for presiding officers who neglect to sign or stamp ballot papers and results.
Aggressive Penalties for Voter Fraud: Increasing fines for the buying or selling of voter cards from N500,000 to N5 million.
Inclusivity: Enhancing protections and access for visually impaired and incapacitated voters.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele confirmed that the report from the Committee on Electoral Matters will undergo a rigorous, clause-by-clause scrutiny tomorrow.
With the House of Representatives having already passed the bill prior to the Yuletide break, the Senate’s expected passage on Thursday sets the stage for a harmonized version to be finalized by early next week. This timeline is intended to allow President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sufficient time to sign the bill into law before INEC issues its official public notice for the 2027 General Elections in February.
