.As Upper Chamber holds emergency session Monday amid public outcry
.CCB should probe parliament over Electoral Act, Tax Laws’ alterations, says SERAP
Amid public outcry over the Electoral Act amendment Bill, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has directed the reconvening of plenary for an emergency sitting on Tuesday, February 10th 2026.
A statement signed by the Clerk of the Senate, Emmanuel Odo, indicates that all Senators are requested to attend.
According to the Clerk, the emergency sitting will commence at 12 o’clock in the afternoon.
The Senate emergency sitting is coming on the heels of the criticisms over the Electoral Act amendment Bill that is currently before the legislative body.
Many believe that failure to include real-time transmission of election results in the Bill, amounts to undermine free and fair elections in the country.
Speaking on the controversy surrounding the removal of the phrase “real-time” electronic transmission of election results, Akpabio said the Senate had not concluded work on the bill and that public debate was premature.
Akpabio spoke in Abuja as special guest of honour at the unveiling of a book, “The Burden of Legislators in Nigeria”, authored by Senator Effiong Bob, in Abuja.
He said, “The Electoral Act amendment is incomplete. We have not completed it, but they are already on television. They don’t understand lawmaking.
“They don’t even know that what is in the Senate is not completed until we look at the Votes and Proceedings,” he said.
Akpabio explained that the Votes and Proceedings stage allows senators to correct, amend, or clarify decisions taken on the floor before final approval, stressing that only after that process could the Senate’s position be considered final.
“When we bring out the Votes and Proceedings, any senator has a right to rise and say, ‘On clause three, this was what we agreed upon.’ That is the only time you can talk about what the Senate has done or not done,” he said.
He criticised commentators for what he described as “abuse” of the legislature, accusing some civil society actors of attempting to impose their views on lawmakers.
“People have become mouth legislators. Go and contest the election if you want to talk about lawmaking and go and join them and make the law. Retreats are not lawmaking; retreats are part of consultations. So why do you think that the paper you agreed in Lagos during a retreat must be what is agreed on the floor?” he asked.
Akpabio insisted that the Senate did not remove electronic transmission of election results, clarifying that lawmakers only questioned the requirement for real-time transmission.
“I must state clearly, without ambiguity, that the Senate has not removed any means of transmission. If you want to use a bicycle to carry your votes from one polling unit to the ward centre, do so. If you want to use your phone to transmit, do so. If you want to use your iPad, do so,” he said.
He said the concern was that mandating real-time transmission could lead to legal disputes if network failures occurred during elections.
“All we said was that we should remove the word ‘real time,’ because if you say real time and there is grid failure and the network is not working, when you go to court somebody will say it ought to have been real time,” he explained.
According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should determine the mode and timing of result transmission within the framework of the law.
The Senate President warned that insisting on real-time transmission could invalidate results in areas with poor connectivity or insecurity.
“Real time means that in over nine states where networks are not working because of insecurity, there will be no election results. Nationally, if the national grid collapses and no network is working, no election results will be valid,” he said.
He cited a Supreme Court ruling which, he said, acknowledged Nigeria’s inadequate infrastructure and emphasised that electronic transmission is only supplementary to the statutory collation process.
“The result is in Form EC8A. It will be carried from the polling unit to the ward centre, from there to the local government collation centre, to the senatorial collation centre, to the state collation centre, and finally the national collation centre,” he said.
Akpabio stressed that the amendment bill had not yet completed the bicameral legislative process and that a conference committee would reconcile differences between the Senate and House of Representatives versions before final passage.
“It is only when we have finished that that you will now say the National Assembly has passed any amendment to the Electoral Act,” he said.
He urged critics to allow the process to run its course, warning against attempts to “rubbish the process” before its conclusion.
Akpabio said electoral reforms must be grounded in legal and institutional capacity, warning against imposing technology beyond the country’s infrastructure.
“We insist that electoral reforms must be anchored in law, guided by capacity, secured against abuse and applied uniformly across the nation. Technology must serve democracy; it must not endanger democracy,” he said.
He added: “You stay in a place that has no wire, no light, and you want to put in the law ‘real time.’ Progress must not bring about injustice.”
The Senate President warned that mistrust of institutions without understanding legislative processes could weaken democracy.
“When people do not understand their legislature, democracy is at risk. Democracy is measured not by passion alone, but by principles,” he said.
He also recalled that the current Electoral Act enabled competitive elections in 2023, including losses by the then ruling party in key states.
“This same Electoral Act made the incumbent party almost lose millions of votes. We lost in places like Lagos and Kano. New parties won whole regions with the same act, whether real-time electronic transfer or not,” he said.
Akpabio concluded that laws must be made for posterity rather than partisan advantage, adding: “You don’t make law for an individual or for opposition. You make law to outlast you, for generations unborn.”
In its position, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP has petitioned the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, to investigate members of the Senate and other public officers over alleged irregularities in the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the Tax Reform Laws.
According to a statement issued on Sunday by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation is seeking a prompt, thorough, and effective probe into claims that some senators removed provisions on electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during plenary, despite a majority having voted for their inclusion and without any debate on the proposed removal.
Dated February 7, 2026, the petition was signed by Oluwadare and sent to the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Mr Abdullahi Bello.
The organization noted, “According to our information, certain members of the Senate allegedly removed the provisions on electronic transmission of election results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill during plenary after the majority of the senators had voted for the inclusion of the provisions and without any debate on the proposed removal of the said provisions,” SERAP said.
The organisation also requested the CCB to investigate alterations in the Tax Reform Bills, which reportedly led to discrepancies between the harmonised versions passed by the National Assembly and the copies signed into law and gazetted by the Federal Government.
“Similarly, the National Assembly recently alleged that there are unlawful alterations and some material differences between the tax reform bills passed by the legislative body and the tax reform laws gazetted by the Federal Government.
“A Sokoto lawmaker, Abdussamad Dasuki, raised the issue under a matter of privilege, drawing the attention of the House to the alleged discrepancies between the harmonised versions of the tax reform bills passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and the copies gazetted by the Federal Government.
“The lawmakers said the alterations contained in the gazetted copies did not receive legislative approval. These alleged unlawful alterations raise questions over the legality and legitimacy of both the law-making processes and the versions of the tax laws circulated by the Federal Ministry of Information,” the petition added.
The Senate had denied removing the provisions on electronic transmission of election results, saying it only removed the term “real time” from the sentence, citing judicial concerns.
Similarly, the National Assembly had initiated investigations into the alleged discrepancies in the tax bill and released a “certified” version of the Acts to address the contradictions. The law took effect on January 1, 2026.
SERAP said the petition is submitted under paragraphs 1 and 9 of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained in the Fifth Schedule, Part 1 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and sections 5 and 13 of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
It alleged that the processes leading to the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the signing of the Tax Reform Laws were marked by alterations to bill provisions without debate and due process of law, as well as alterations to the Tax Reform Bill without the approval of the National Assembly.
“The petition raises issues of conflict of interest, abuse of office, non-disclosure of interests, lack of due process, and erosion of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers in the exercise of legislative power.
“There are also allegations that certain amendments may have been removed or introduced to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the Tax Reform Laws to serve private or political interests rather than the public interest,” the petition reads.
Citing the Constitution, SERAP noted that public officers must not place themselves in situations where personal interests conflict with official duties.
Specifically, the organisation asked the Bureau to formally register the petition and “promptly, thoroughly, transparently, and effectively investigate the conduct of the lawmakers and officers of the executive branch allegedly involved;
“Examine whether inducements, benefits, or promises were offered or received in connection with those acts;
“Examine whether the alleged cumulative conduct of lawmakers and officers of the executive branch amounted to abuse of legislative power, conflict of interest, and breach of due process, contrary to the Code of Conduct for Public Officers;
“Refer any substantiated violations to the Code of Conduct Tribunal; and
“Take all necessary steps to uphold the principle that public office is a public trust.”
The petition requested that the Bureau consider the complaint within seven days, warning that legal action could follow if there is no response.
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