Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, has asserted that the Nigerian political class’s opposition to mandatory electronic transmission of election results is rooted in a fear of the accountability and transparency it provides.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Itodo addressed the ongoing controversy following the Senate’s February 4 passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2026, which excluded provisions for mandatory real-time result transmission.
“What the political class seems to be scared of is the power that electronic transmission of results has,” Itodo remarked. He explained that this technology serves as a vital safeguard at the collation stage—a phase he identified as the most susceptible to interference.
“It enhances the transparency of the process and also ensures it has a deterrent effect, because the lowest and perhaps the weakest link of our entire results management process is at the collation level. That is where results are manipulated,” he added.
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While acknowledging that no technical system is perfect, Itodo argued that the goal is to create barriers against fraud. “There is no system in the world that is insulated from penetration. But what you do about those vulnerabilities is institute mechanisms that limit the extent of vulnerability so you prevent any form of attack,” he stated.
Explaining the benefits of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) IReV portal and similar platforms, Itodo noted that they allow the public to see results as they are uploaded from polling units. “That way, it enhances accessibility so that by the time the results get to the collation centre, everyone has already seen them,” he said, warning that a lack of such transparency makes it easier to alter figures behind closed doors.
He dismissed claims that the system is unreliable by pointing to successful implementations in previous elections. “If the critics say electronic transmission doesn’t work, it worked in Nasarawa, it worked in Zamfara, it worked in Abia. There are lots of elections where this particular mode deepened the integrity of the process,” Itodo concluded.
Amid the mounting pressure and criticism from civil society, the Senate has notably scheduled an emergency sitting for Tuesday, February 10, 2026, to address the public outcry surrounding the amendment.
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