News Investigators/ A former Director-General of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Campaign Council, Akin Osuntokun, says the Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of election results does not portend well for the growth of Nigeria’s democracy.
Mr Osuntokun, a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who recently joined African Democratic Congress (ADC) made this remark in an interview with a correspondent of the agency on Friday in Lagos.
He was reacting to the Senate’s decision to exclude electronic transmission of results from the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 passed on Wednesday.
“It (Rejection of e-transmission of election results) does not portend good omen, it does not portend good for the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
“The growth of democracy is rooted in accountability and the integrity of elections.
“So anything that makes elections less accountable makes the election less credible. Automatically, it is a drag and an obstruction of the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
“It does not serve the purpose of democratic consolidation, so far as the elections that are conducted on that basis will not meet the bar or threshold of credible election,” Osuntokun said
He described the move as suspicious and logically linked to possible manipulation of elections.
Mr Osuntokun added: “The logical interpretation of what they have done is that they want to look for avenues or contrive avenues where the elections can be manipulated.
“That is the logical interpretation of what they have done.”
Mr Osuntokun said there was no convincing explanation or justification for rejecting electronic transmission.
He added: “What is the explanation? There is no tenable explanation for what they have done.
“Using the e-transmission makes the election or the counting of votes less susceptible to manual interference in the results that are declared.
“So, what we have been told is that any instrument, any intervention that will make the election less amenable to manipulation, they do not want it.”
Osuntokun, however, expressed doubt that the decision would discourage voter turnout in future elections.
He said voters were still likely to participate, but would become more vigilant.
Mr Osuntokun said: “So, what people will do when they go to vote is to physically remain there.
“They will show as much as possible that the votes that are counted are credible and are votes that were duly cast.”
He warned that distrust about the electoral process could trigger tension at collation centres.
“If voters have this kind of mentality and have this distrust that the system is being deliberately manipulated, it will provoke anger, suspicion, indignation and invite physical interference of voters
“However, I do not think that it will affect turnout.
“It will just make them more indignant. It will foster a lot of indignation.
“It is possible that the voters react with indignation. Participation may be more aggressive to ensure that their vote counts,” he added.
NAN reports that the Senate had on Wednesday passed the Electoral Act 2022 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Amendment Bill 2026 after the third reading.
The upper legislative chamber, however, rejected a proposed amendment to Clause 60, Subsection 3 of the bill, which sought to make the electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
Lawmakers opposed to the proposal, citing technical and logistical concerns around its implementation nationwide.
NAN
