Peter Obi joins protest as Nigerians demand real-time election result uploads

Hundreds of Nigerians gathered at the National Assembly on Monday demanding that lawmakers explicitly require the real-time electronic transmission of polling unit results in the 2027 general elections, intensifying pressure over proposed changes to the country’s electoral law.

The protest, organized under the banner “Occupy the National Assembly,” drew civil society groups, youth activists and opposition supporters who argue that recent amendments to the Electoral Act fail to strengthen safeguards against election manipulation.

At issue is the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, passed last week by the Senate. While the Senate retained provisions allowing electronic transmission of election results, it removed specific wording that would mandate transmission “in real time” from polling units. Critics say that omission could reopen loopholes in the collation process, where results are aggregated and verified.

Demonstrators marched from the Federal Secretariat toward the National Assembly complex, carrying placards that read “Our Votes Must Count” and “No More Glitches.” Security operatives – including police, soldiers and civil defence personnel – blocked access to the main gate, preventing protesters from entering the premises. The rally dispersed peacefully later in the day.

Former presidential candidate Peter Obi joined the protest. “Allow the elections to go through the normal process. Whoever wins, we would accept. No more glitch,” Mr. Obi told reporters, urging lawmakers to restore explicit language requiring real-time uploads.

The debate revives tensions from the 2023 presidential election, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) experienced disruptions in uploading results to its online portal.

INEC attributed the breakdown to technical problems but proceeded to declare President Bola Tinubu the winner. Opposition parties cited discrepancies between some manually announced figures and uploaded results, arguing that delays in electronic transmission undermined transparency.

Nigeria has undertaken successive electoral reforms since the widely criticized 2007 polls. Card readers were introduced in 2015, followed by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in 2022. Civil society groups have long maintained that real-time transmission of results from polling units is essential to limiting human interference and strengthening public confidence.

Lawmakers backing the current amendment say electronic transfer remains in the bill and argue that rigid language could create technical challenges. But several senators objected to the removal of the “real-time” clause, saying there had been prior agreement to retain it.

Nigerians have argued that since the country is able to conduct banking and tax services electronically at nearly all locations today, it would similarly be able to maintain network access to wherever elections take place for direct transfer of results.