President Bola Tinubu has signed the Electoral Act 2026 (Amendment) into law, days after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) released the timetable for the 2027 general elections.
The signing ceremony took place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, with principal officers of the National Assembly of Nigeria in attendance.
The National Assembly had passed the amendment bill on Tuesday, paving the way for presidential assent amid heightened national debate over key provisions of the electoral framework.
Central to public discourse has been the issue of real-time electronic transmission of election results. Civil society organisations and opposition figures recently staged protests at the National Assembly complex, urging lawmakers to mandate live transmission of results from polling units directly to INEC’s central server to enhance transparency and credibility.
However, the ruling All Progressives Congress and some stakeholders raised concerns about the technical feasibility of real-time transmission in areas with limited telecommunications infrastructure, advocating a phased or hybrid approach that allows manual collation where electronic systems fail.
The debate follows controversies during the 2023 elections, when challenges with INEC’s Results Viewing Portal sparked allegations of irregularities. The 2027 general elections are scheduled for February 20 for Presidential and National Assembly polls, and March 6 for Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
