Senator Nenadi Usman, the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has stated that the issue over the accompanying proviso to Section 60(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which provides for manual transmission of election results, is exaggerated.
The LP chairman addressed at the ‘Live Citizens Town Hall’ on the new Electoral Act 2026 under the topic, ‘Electoral Act 2026: What it means for your vote and the 2027 elections, held in Abuja over the weekend.
“While I commend the lawmakers for approving the electronic transmission of results to the IREV, I believe the controversy surrounding the accompanying proviso to Section 60(3) has been somewhat exaggerated,” according to her.
She acknowledged opposition parties’ concerns about the possibility of abuse of the fallback to Form EC8A in the event of network disruptions, but maintained that the success or failure of any political party at a polling unit is ultimately determined by the party’s preparedness and presence at that polling unit.
“If political parties deploy well-trained, vigilant, and capable agents across all polling units, votes will be protected, properly documented, and accurately reflected on the INEC portal,” she told reporters.
“A close reading of the proviso to Section 60(3) reveals that Form EC8A is the primary source data and, therefore, should be countersigned by candidates or polling agents, if available. The essential phrase is ‘where accessible.'”
She stated that it is the obligation of political parties to guarantee that their agents are present in all polling units, reminding them that the IREV is primarily for viewing results and preserving records, not collation.
She continued, “For us in the Labour Party, the lessons from the last presidential election were educational. We’ve realised that diligent grassroots preparation, particularly agent deployment, is the foundation of election success.
“That is why we are spending tremendous resources and energy to ensuring effective representation across the nation’s 176,974 polling locations. Despite our high belief in our performance in the previous presidential election, we struggled to substantiate certain claims, owing to a lack of comprehensive agent coverage across the federation capable of generating validly countersigned copies of Form EC8A.
“As a result, I am confident that if political parties develop their internal institutions and carefully carry out their tasks, the widespread concern about real-time electronic transmission as the sole guarantee of credible results would diminish.
“Relying solely on INEC while ignoring our vital role on election day would be like outsourcing the answer to our own organisational flaws.
“As a political party, we will work on getting our act right, believe in the law, present our candidates and win elections come next year, 2027 by God’s grace.”